Objective
Activities include several platforms for experts and practitioners to discuss the implications of post-disaster reconstruction, deep-rooted vulnerabilities, climate-related risks, and recovery processes and to draw upon lessons learned in one of the most hazard-exposed countries in the world. It will also explore the consequences of conducting activities in both formal and informal urban settings, offering valuable insights applicable to numerous disaster-prone regions worldwide.
The event includes keynote conferences, paper presentations, workshops, round tables, and a one-day fieldwork in one of the informal settlements of Valparaiso affected by wildfires in 2024. In this way, the conference seeks to bring together academia, practitioners, and local community leaders in fruitful dialogues and spaces for co-creating new knowledge.
The context and research questions
For the first time, the bi-annual i-Rec conference will be held in Latin America. Throughout its history, Chile has been hit by frequent disasters triggered by earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcano eruptions, which have contributed to shaping both its natural and built environment.
In recent years, climate change has exacerbated several hazards such as wildfires and floods which, coupled with rapid urbanization and an accumulation of vulnerability factors, are amplifying risk. These factors are particularly affecting informal neighborhoods and urban settlements of informal origin, where thousands of low-income families live.
While the Chilean state is known for comprehensive—but often slow—reconstruction plans, residents of informal areas and informal builders often mobilize their resources and capacities to reconstruct their neighborhoods and homes. In this process, they rarely wait for government funds or technical assistance, resorting instead to local networks, skills, labor, materials, and resources. However, while rapid, informal, self-built reconstruction allows a prompt return to domestic activities and livelihoods, it often reproduces risk conditions that initially contributed to the disaster. Is the informal sector part of the problem or part of its solution? What are its strengths and weaknesses? How can it be better integrated within formal projects, programs, and policy? How does bottom-up actions operate? What is the role of citizens, civil society groups, and local leaders in disaster risk reduction, climate action, and reconstruction?
In this conference, we will seek to answer these questions and explore the scope, advantages, limitations, and challenges associated with self-construction, bottom-up initiatives, and other forms of citizen’s agency in the face of risk.
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