Shao, Y and Sun, Y (2025) Examining governance of post-earthquake reconstruction planning from an evolutionary resilience perspective. International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, 16(1), pp. 38-56. ISSN 1759-5908
Abstract
Purpose: The politically laden nature of postdisaster recovery calls for more research on its governance, especially at the micro-scale. Apart from engineering-oriented frameworks, researchers need new theoretical underpinnings. This paper aims to review the development of the evolutionary resilience theory and use it as an analytical framework to evaluate the governance of post-earthquake reconstruction planning in China. Design/methodology/approach: This paper examines how reconstruction planning is governed in the epicenter town of the 2008 Great Sichuan Earthquake, highlighting three key qualities of evolutionary resilience. The authors draw on site investigations, semistructured interviews and analysis of official and unpublished documents from various sources. Findings: This paper finds that despite the absence of specific resilience statements in reconstruction plans of the time, qualities of evolutionary resilience, including social connectedness, flexibility and innovation, were evident in a hybrid and contradictory reconstruction planning system. In this respect, resilience thinking appears in Chinese planning earlier than generally assumed. This paper suggests that this manifestation of resilience was the result of an instrumental utility in addressing socioeconomic uncertainties in the postdisaster environment and, thus, may not be systematic. Originality/value: This work enriches the understanding of recovery governance from an evolutionary resilience perspective where existing research is insufficient. It also offers ample practical guidance for similar cases in China and elsewhere.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | capability; earthquakes; evolutionary resilience; governance; local planning; postdisaster reconstruction |
| Index terms: | local planning, interview, China, analytical framework, documents, methodology, governance, reconstruction, recovery, site investigation, earthquake |
| Subjects: | professional development, geotechnical engineering, data collection methods, business, data analysis and analytics, Geography, urban design, research methods, environmental hazards, building construction, operations management |
| Topics: | Urban Studies, Information Management, Research Practice, Governance, Engineering Principles, Project Management, Geographical Context, Sustainability |
| 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