Place-Based Citizen Science for Assessing Risk Perception and Coping Capacity of Households Affected by Multiple Hazards

Alves, Priscila Barros Ramalho; Cordão, Maria José de Sousa; Djordjević, Slobodan; Javadi, Akbar A.

doi:10.3390/su13010302

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Place-Based Citizen Science for Assessing Risk Perception and Coping Capacity of Households Affected by Multiple Hazards

Priscila Barros Ramalho Alves

^1,*

Maria José de Sousa Cordão

²,

Slobodan Djordjević

and

Akbar A. Javadi

Centre for Water Systems (CWS), University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QG, UK

PPGECA-Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG), Campina Grande 58428-830, Brazil

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Sustainability 2021, 13(1), 302; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010302

Received: 24 November 2020 / Revised: 20 December 2020 / Accepted: 28 December 2020 / Published: 31 December 2020

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Resilience in a Context of Climate Change)

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Abstract

Since hazards act upon vulnerability and exposure to become disasters, the understanding of societal challenges is key for disaster risk reduction. This condition is even more critical when more than one hazard is in place. Taking the case of flooding and water shortage, this study is built upon the premise that disasters are a social phenomenon; therefore, it is essential to comprehend the social context in which they occur. Particularly, this study aims to evaluate the similarities and differences in risk perception and the coping capacity of residents in the multiple-hazard context. For this, a place-based citizen science approach was developed in this study in Campina Grande, a semiarid region of Brazil, with the collaboration of 199 participants. Risk perception and coping capacity were analysed through the citizens’ participation, while combining subjective and objective methods. The results indicate that even though residents have experienced severe flooding and water shortages in the past, they still have low coping capacity. The findings highlight the need to combine a triad of societal challenges, namely information, trust, and incentives, to improve coping capacity in the future and increase resilience. This study underlines the need to understand multiple hazards according to social, spatial, and temporal scales in a socio-spatial perspective. View Full-Text

Keywords: disaster; multiple hazards; risk perception; coping capacity; flooding; water shortage

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

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MDPI and ACS Style

Alves, P.B.R.; Cordão, M.J.d.S.; Djordjević, S.; Javadi, A.A. Place-Based Citizen Science for Assessing Risk Perception and Coping Capacity of Households Affected by Multiple Hazards. Sustainability 2021, 13, 302. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010302

AMA Style

Alves PBR, Cordão MJdS, Djordjević S, Javadi AA. Place-Based Citizen Science for Assessing Risk Perception and Coping Capacity of Households Affected by Multiple Hazards. Sustainability. 2021; 13(1):302. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010302

Chicago/Turabian Style

Alves, Priscila B.R., Maria J.d.S. Cordão, Slobodan Djordjević, and Akbar A. Javadi 2021. "Place-Based Citizen Science for Assessing Risk Perception and Coping Capacity of Households Affected by Multiple Hazards" Sustainability 13, no. 1: 302. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13010302

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Place-Based Citizen Science for Assessing Risk Perception and Coping Capacity of Households Affected by Multiple Hazards

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