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A systems approach to resilience in the built environment: the case of Cuba
Author(s) -
Lizarralde Gonzalo,
Valladares Arturo,
Olivera Andres,
Bornstein Lisa,
Gould Kevin,
Barenstein Jennifer Duyne
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
disasters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.744
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1467-7717
pISSN - 0361-3666
DOI - 10.1111/disa.12109
Subject(s) - resilience (materials science) , built environment , context (archaeology) , social capital , adaptation (eye) , environmental planning , hazard , psychological resilience , business , emergency management , natural hazard , environmental resource management , poison control , urban resilience , urban planning , knowledge management , engineering , sociology , computer science , geography , economic growth , psychology , economics , environmental health , civil engineering , medicine , social science , social psychology , chemistry , archaeology , thermodynamics , physics , organic chemistry , neuroscience , meteorology
Through its capacity to evoke systemic adaptation before and after disasters, resilience has become a seductive theory in disaster management. Several studies have linked the concept with systems theory; however, they have been mostly based on theoretical models with limited empirical support. The study of the Cuban model of resilience sheds light on the variables that create systemic resilience in the built environment and its relations with the social and natural environments. Cuba is vulnerable to many types of hazard, yet the country's disaster management benefits from institutional, health and education systems that develop social capital, knowledge and other assets that support construction industry and housing development, systematic urban and regional planning, effective alerts, and evacuation plans. The Cuban political context is specific, but the study can nonetheless contribute to systemic improvements to the resilience of built environments in other contexts.