Perera, S; Adeniyi, O and Babatunde, S O (2017) Analysing community needs and skills for enhancing disaster resilience in the built environment. International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, 8(3), pp. 292-305. ISSN 1759-5916
Abstract
Purpose: A better cooperation among all stakeholders working towards enhancing the disaster resilience of societies can only be achieved if the expectations or the needs of each stakeholder are understood. This study attempts to outline the needs of communities affected by disasters for the purpose of aligning the needs and skill requirements with the abilities of built environment professionals serving these communities. Therefore, the study aims to identify and describe community needs and skills requirements for enhancing disaster resilience. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopted literature review and semi-structured interviews. The semi-structured interviews were conducted with key members of some communities affected by disasters and with some of the professionals who participated in the restoration/reconstruction of those communities. Data obtained were analysed using NVivo 10. Findings: The study revealed the current and emerging needs and skills of communities related to the built environment professionals from the viewpoint of enhancing disaster resilience. Thus, 29 classifications of skill and needs were derived and classified under five major disaster resilience dimensions to include social, economic, technological, environmental and institutional aspects. Research limitations/implications: This study focuses only of the needs and skills of the “community”, which is the major stakeholder that is basically the receiver of all that the other stakeholders of disaster resilience have to offer. Practical implications: This study would help the built environment professionals involved in disaster resilience to become aware of the specific needs and skills of the communities affected by disasters for the purpose of developing their competences. Originality/value: The study findings would be useful for both the built environment professionals and higher education institutions. Because it is important for professionals to update and upgrade their knowledge towards enhancing their capabilities and meeting stakeholders' expectations in a bid to enhance societal resilience to disasters across all domains of resilience.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | built environment; community-centred; education; resilience; stakeholders; training |
| Index terms: | literature review, disaster resilience, society, community-centred, interview, cooperation, restoration, methodology, competence, higher education institution, reconstruction, dimension, built environment |
| Subjects: | personnel development, research methods, renovation and retrofit, communities and social development, infrastructure and transport systems, building construction, community engagement, educational institutions, climate science, data collection methods, health monitoring assessment and metrics, data analysis and analytics, psychology |
| Topics: | Human Resources, Urban Studies, Organizational Design, Education, Engineering Principles, Research Practice, Health and Safety, Sustainability, Stakeholder Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here