XVIII ISA World Congress of Sociology (July 13-19, 2014)

July 13 - 19, 2014

662

Cities As Socio-Ecological Places: Global Risks and Local Vulnerabilities

RC39 Sociology of Disasters (host committee)

Language: English

The intertwining dynamic between the effects of Global Environmental Change (GEC), Climate Change (CC), and the capacity of cities to adapt, is a growing area of concern for the international scientific and policy community. While it is straightforward to conceptualize the central role of city-level institutions for the successful realization of adaptation policies, this is not the case regarding what may foster adaptation capacity according to varying institutional and social geographies. The production of risk and the determinants of vulnerability are not only environmental but also have an economic, political, and cultural dimension. As climate change is producing unprecedented patterns of environmental and socio-ecological transformations, international sociological and cross-disciplinary evidence is still patched and not informed by solid conceptual frameworks capable of tackling the perspective proposed by the natural sciences. The session seeks papers reflecting on the conceptualization of cities as socio-ecological places; urban disasters and ecological dependence; the materialization of risk society: disasters, risk and vulnerability in contemporary urban settlements; planning, land-use and prevention: usefulness and limitations of technical approaches in the face of socio-ecological risks; cultural dynamics and perceptions in the face of urban ecological risks and vulnerability.