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Impacts of Social Hazards on Urban Sustainability

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Handbook of Sustainability Science in the Future

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Abstract

The prominent role played by cities on human life has meant that one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals included in the 2030 Agenda is focused on the urban phenomenon. Sustainability, resilience, inclusiveness, and safety are four aspects to be significantly strengthened in cities before the end of 2030. Climate change has been the usual source of natural disasters that have hit urban settings in the last years causing thousands of fatalities and billionaire property losses worldwide. As a consequence, resilience has captured the attention of scholars to promote the abilities of communities to prepare, adapt, response, and recover to/from a disaster. Nevertheless, the analysis of hazards that emerge from society and led to a profound social transformation has been scarcely addressed. With the purpose of bridging this gap, this chapter introduced the term “social hazard” and provided an overview of linkages with sustainability and resilience thinking in the urban realm. As an exponent of a social hazard, the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on urban settlements were analyzed. The study concluded that resilience in cities should be mostly focused on maintaining the operation of urban systems, for which a changing scenario that encompasses complex adaptive systems should be considered.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. GTDS Research group, University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain

    Jose Manuel Diaz-Sarachaga

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  1. Jose Manuel Diaz-Sarachaga
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Correspondence to Jose Manuel Diaz-Sarachaga .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. FTZ-ALS, HAW Hamburg, Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Walter Leal Filho

  2. University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Anabela Marisa Azul

  3. Department of Business and Law, University of Milano-Bicocca, MILANO, Milano, Italy

    Federica Doni

  4. University of Passo Fundo, Sao Jose, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

    Amanda Lange Salvia

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Diaz-Sarachaga, J.M. (2022). Impacts of Social Hazards on Urban Sustainability. In: Leal Filho, W., Azul, A.M., Doni, F., Salvia, A.L. (eds) Handbook of Sustainability Science in the Future. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68074-9_17-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68074-9_17-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-68074-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-68074-9

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