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CONFERENCE: 4th International Urban Design Conference, Surfers Paradise, Australia, September 2011

ABSTRACT
Exposure to natural disasters creates significant risks in urban areas where human and economic resources are located in large numbers. The buiilt and natural environments of these resources are constantly changing thorugh new development projects. This continuous urbanisation brings new challenges to reducing the risks of natural disasters, particularly given that the number of natural disasters affecting urban populations has risen four-fold since 1975. The recent natural disasters in New Orleans, Haiti, Christchurch and Brisbane showed that community resilience at the neighbourhood level played a critical role in managing the after effects of the disasters.

Community resilience is the capacity of a community to absorb shocks and stresses either by adaptation or resistance, to maintain certain basic functions and structures during disastrous events, and to recover and bounce back after these events. Unfortunately this community resilience is not evident in every neighbourhood. Neighbourhoods which are based on an urban livelihood comprising the capabilities, assets and activities required for a means of lving both now and in the future typically offer such community resilience.

In this context, the purpose of this paper is to identify how sustainable neighbourhood design can be utiliised to generate a livelihood at the neighbourhood level which ensures a resilient neighbourhood, and ultimately reduces the vulnerability of the community to natural disasters

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