Special Issue "Planning for Resilience in Rural Communities"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Hazards and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2022.

Special Issue Editor

Dr. John T Cooper
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Sustainable Communities, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Interests: collaborative land use planning; equitable disaster recovery; environmental justice; participatory research; leadership development

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We are in an era of disasters. A UN report published earlier this year confirmed how extreme weather events have increased in severity and frequency over the last 20 years. The report revealed that the number of major disasters almost doubled in the last 20 years, and the number of major floods, in particular, more than doubled. The report also notes that much of the difference is explained by a rise in climate-related disasters, with an increase in climate-related events from 3656 in 1980–1999 to 6681 in 2000–2019. In the United States, climate change is increasingly undeniable, as evidenced in 2020 alone by wildfires, floods, and a record-breaking number of storms during the Atlantic hurricane season.  If this trend continues, some economists and climate scientists expect future disasters to devastate rural communities in particular. Unfortunately, many rural communities already struggle with factors that cause some to suffer disasters disproportionately, including higher rates of poverty, disability, limited access to healthcare and broadband services. These same factors make bouncing back after disasters seem out of reach. To avoid or minimize the long-term effects of disasters on individuals, cultures, ecosystems, and economies, rural communities must focus on strategies to increase resilience.

Resilience is commonly described as the ability to anticipate, prepare, and plan for disasters so that a community can absorb the consequences and more adequately recover. Research and practice affirm that the path to resilience starts with developing plans that maximize the health, safety, and economic well-being of everyone in a community. In addition, time and effort invested in pre-disaster planning for resilience has a greater return on investment than time and effort poured into post-disaster relief and recovery. To that end, effective disaster resilience planning assesses the risk of disasters in a community, then prioritizes community needs and values in reducing risk. Developing plans before a disaster could also enhance a community’s ability to secure and expedite the flow of post-disaster resources for relief and recovery. Unfortunately, too often rural communities do not have the capacity (human, financial, organizational, technical, political, etc.)  and/or other resources necessary to become more resilient. Therefore, the focus of this Special Issue is to provide a better understanding of the barriers to enhancing resilience in rural communities and illuminating promising strategies for enhancing resilience.

Dr. John T Cooper
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Rural resilience
  • Social vulnerability
  • Collaborative disaster planning
  • Climate adaptation
  • Equitable disaster policy
  • Participatory research
  • Environmental justice

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

Article
A Conceptual Framework Integrating “Building Back Better” and Post-Earthquake Needs for Recovery and Reconstruction
Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5608; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105608 - 18 May 2021
Viewed by 358
Abstract
Global disasters due to earthquakes have become more frequent and intense. Consequently, post-disaster recovery and reconstruction has become the new normal in the social process. Through post-disaster reconstruction, risks can be effectively reduced, resilience can be improved, and long-term stability can be achieved. [...] Read more.
Global disasters due to earthquakes have become more frequent and intense. Consequently, post-disaster recovery and reconstruction has become the new normal in the social process. Through post-disaster reconstruction, risks can be effectively reduced, resilience can be improved, and long-term stability can be achieved. However, there is a gap between the impact of post-earthquake reconstruction and the needs of the people in the disaster area. Based on the international consensus of “building back better” (BBB) and a post-disaster needs assessment method, this paper proposes a new (N-BBB) conceptual model to empirically analyze recovery after the Changning Ms 6.0 earthquake in Sichuan Province, China. The reliability of the model was verified through factor analysis. The main observations were as follows. People’s needs focus on short-term life and production recovery during post-earthquake recovery and reconstruction. Because of disparities in families, occupations, and communities, differences are observed in the reconstruction time sequence and communities. Through principal component analysis, we found that the N-BBB model constructed in this study could provide strong policy guidance in post-disaster recovery and reconstruction after the Changning Ms 6.0 earthquake, effectively coordinate the “top-down” and “bottom-up” models, and meet the diversified needs of such recovery and reconstruction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Planning for Resilience in Rural Communities)
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Article
Ageing in Place in Disaster Prone Rural Coastal Communities: A Case Study of Tai O Village in Hong Kong
Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 4618; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094618 - 21 Apr 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 475
Abstract
Rural coastal communities face unique disaster risks that will impact interventions throughout the disaster risk reduction (DRR) cycle (mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery). At the same time, these communities are experiencing an ageing population. As climate change contributes to rising sea levels and [...] Read more.
Rural coastal communities face unique disaster risks that will impact interventions throughout the disaster risk reduction (DRR) cycle (mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery). At the same time, these communities are experiencing an ageing population. As climate change contributes to rising sea levels and an increase in the intensity and frequency of climate-related disasters, older populations living in rural coastal communities face heightened risks. This is a qualitative case study examining the ageing in place (AIP) experiences of older people living in a disaster-prone rural coastal community in Hong Kong—Tai O Village. Findings highlight that: (i) a critical dimension of AIP is their ability to sustain and continue their work, which played a multidimensional role, (ii) local community-based organizations play an instrumental role in providing social support in a disaster context, (iii) more support and resources for mitigation activities are needed, and (iv) while supports exist for AIP and in a disaster situation, the older residents may not utilize such supports. In addition to informing age-friendly DRR programmes and research, these findings inform AIP practices, policies, and research relevant to rural coastal communities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Planning for Resilience in Rural Communities)
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Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Title: Supply chain resilience: unleash the power of collaboration to better disaster management
Authors: Muhammad Umar
Affiliation: Faculty of Commerce, Lincoln University New Zealand, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand
Abstract: 1. Purpose – This study builds on the extant literature of supply chain collaboration, notably vertical and horizontal collaboration, and examines how these capabilities influence the resilience of supply chains that experience regular natural disasters. 2. Design/methodology/approach – A multiple case study approach has been adopted to investigate the role of collaboration within foods supply chains of two different South Asian regions. This context was selected as these regions are prone to regular natural disruptions and these food supply chains also play a crucial role in the relief process. 3. Findings – The data revealed that effective communication, mutual dependence, information sharing, informal financial support and building trust are some of the components of supply chain collaboration which enhance theverall resilience of supply chain towards natural disasters. Given the abductive nature of this research these findings form the most likely associations, but with a degree of uncertainty. Hence, we provide propositions for further detailed research in this important area. 4. Originality – This study is one of the few, as far as the Authors can tell, that seeks to examine the influence collaboration on the resilience of supply chains. Further, uncovering the substructure of collaboration in this context adds to this emerging body of literature. Key words: collaboration, Resilience, Food Supply Chains

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