Introduction

Resilience has become a prominent concept in the field of disaster risk reduction (DRR). Yet, analysis of whether and how the conceptual claims of resilience are translated from the planning stage into practical implementation is often lacking or thin (Garschagen, 2013). In this chapter, ‘disaster resilience’ is defined as the ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner (UNISDR, 2009) while maintaining their structure and functions (Holling, 2001). The debate on disaster resilience is largely driven by the observation that disaster impacts remain high at the global scale (Guha-Sapir et al, 2015). The Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) signals a global commitment to build resilience in order to reduce vulnerability and risk to natural hazards (UNISDR, 2007). To extend and build upon the achievement of HFA, the Sendai Framework for DRR emphasises the need to strengthen the resilience of people, communities, countries and their assets (UNISDR, 2015).

Adaptive governance is an approach that can support the management of complexity in disasters (Djalante, 2012) in order to ensure effective disaster responses (Lei et al, 2015). It focuses on the need for institutional adaptation in addition to the sheer adjustment of the biophysical and built environment, which is particularly relevant for cities and planning institutions (Birkmann et al, 2010, 2014). This is particularly important where institutions for DRR have to consider not only changes in the nature and intensity of natural hazards, but also changes to the socio-economic and cultural dimensions that take place in dynamically developing countries and cities, which affect the pathways of vulnerability and adaptive capacity towards these hazards (Garschagen and Kraas, 2010; Garschagen and Romero-Lankao, 2015). Sudmeier-Rieux et al (2014), therefore, call for risk-sensitive land-use planning, that is, the change of planning principles and regulations, as one of the major components of adaptive urban governance.

Djalante et al (2011) proposed four characteristics of adaptive governance that can support the implementation of building resilience to disasters: multilayered institutions; participation and collaboration; self-organisation; and learning. However, there are opportunities that can be strengthened in the current state of adaptive governance, namely, the involvement of multiple stakeholders in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA), increasing the global network, and improving the availability of strategic environment impact assessments (Birkmann et al, 2014).