Debating Disaster Risk: Ethical Dilemmas in the Era of Climate Change

by Gonzalo Lizarralde (Editor), Lisa M. Bornstein (Editor), Tapan Dhar (Editor)

Overview

Dealing with the risks of climate change and disaster is a political process. It produces winners and losers, mobility and permanence, radical change and continuity, relief and suffering. For some, it ultimately leads to life or death. Yet consultants, academics, humanitarian agents, and politicians often simply propose well-intentioned ideas—resilience, sustainability, community participation, emergency shelter, green development—while failing to perceive the blind spots and unintended consequences of such approaches.

Debating Disaster Risk brings together leading global experts to explore the controversies that emerge—and the tough decisions that must be made—when cities, people, and the environment are at risk. Scholars and practitioners discuss the challenges of reducing vulnerability and rebuilding after destruction in an accessible and lively debate format, with commentary by researchers, students, and development workers from across the world. They emphasize the ethical consequences of decisions about how cities and communities should prepare for and react to disasters, considering issues such as housing, environmental protection, urban development, and infrastructure recovery.

A valuable resource for scholars, students, and practitioners in a variety of fields, this book provides an in-depth analysis of the difficult choices we face in dealing with disasters. As climate change accelerates, Debating Disaster Risk invites readers to grapple with the most pressing controversies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780231209663
Publisher:	Columbia University Press
Publication date:	08/19/2025
Pages:	376
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Gonzalo Lizarralde is a professor in the School of Architecture at Université de Montréal, where he holds the Fayolle-Magil Construction Chair in Architecture, Built Environment, and Sustainability.

Lisa Bornstein is an associate professor and the director of the School of Urban Planning at McGill University.

Tapan Dhar is an assistant professor in the School of the Environment at Trent University.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Problem of Explaining Problems, by Tapan Dhar, Lisa Bornstein, and Gonzalo Lizarralde
Part I. Language and Meanings: Language and Meanings of Risk, Adaptation, and Resilience in Negril, Jamaica, by Tapan Dhar, Gonzalo Lizarralde, and Lisa Bornstein
1. On Fragility: Are Cities and Human Systems Increasingly Fragile in the Face of Disasters?, by Thomas Fisher and Michael Mehaffy
2. On Power Imbalances: Is Disaster-Related Research and Practice in the Global South Unfavorably Guided by Northern Ideas?, by J. C. Gaillard and Carmen Mendoza-Arroyo
3. On Resilience: Is the Concept of Resilience Useful in the Fields of Disaster Risk Reduction and the Built Environment, or Is It Just Another Abused and Malleable Buzzword?, by Daniel Aldrich and Jonathan Joseph
Part II. Tough Choices: Tough Choices in Responding to Disasters: Flooding in Mozambique and California, by Lisa Bornstein, Tapan Dhar, and Gonzalo Lizarralde
4. On Emergency Response: Does Temporary Housing Hinder the Recovery Process?, by Ilan Kelman and Graham Saunders
5. On Shelter: Should Refugees Be Sheltered in Contained, Organized Camps or Be Allowed to Disperse Throughout Urban and Rural Areas?, by Kamel Abboud and Jeff Crisp
6. On Participation: Is Public Participation the Key to Success for Urban Projects and Initiatives Aimed at Disaster Risk Reduction?, by Christopher Bryant and Camillo Boano
7. On Aid: Does Aid Actually Aid in Avoiding Disasters and Rebuilding After Disasters?, by Anna Konotchick and Jason von Meding
Part III. What Ought to Be: Living with Risk or Relocating in Isabela de Sagua, Cuba, by Gonzalo Lizarralde, Tapan Dhar, and Lisa Bornstein
8. On External Agents and Consultants: Do International Agencies, Consultants, and Other “Orchestrators” Truly Help Cities Reduce Climate-Related Risks?, by Lorenzo Chelleri and Craig Johnson
9. On Regulations: Should Governments Devise and Enforce Standards for Low-Cost Housing in Developing Countries?, by Edmundo Werna and Brian Aldrich
10. On Environmental Performance Indicators: Should Construction and Urban Projects in Developing Countries Adopt Green Building Certifications Created in Developed and Industrialized Nations?, by Jared O. Blum and David Wachsmuth
11. On Adaptation: Is Adapting to Climate Change Our Best Choice?, by Deborah Harford and Silja Klepp
Conclusions: Ethics in Decisions on Tough Problems, by Gonzalo Lizarralde, Lisa Bornstein, and Tapan Dhar
List of Contributors
Index

Editorial Reviews

The authors of Debating Disaster Risk bring their expertise in a multitude of fields to examine the often unintended consequences and aftereffects of decisions made in grappling with climate change, disasters, and risk more broadly. Debating Disaster Risk delves beyond success or failure and into the fraught conflict of it all, a critical space to maintain in such discussions, but one all too often set aside for comfort.

Jennifer Trivedi

Never have ethics been more important to human life than they are now and in no area is that more important than it is in disaster risk reduction. I thank the authors of this book for asking some difficult questions and for providing invigorating answers to them.

David Alexander