Publikationen

The success of Agenda 2030 will mainly be decided in cities. By 2050, nearly 70% of humans are expected to live in urban areas, making urbanization one of the 21st century’s most transformative trends, and intensifying the economic, social, environmental and cultural challenges and opportunities. In its shared vision for a better and more sustainable future, the New Urban Agenda (NUA) underlines the importance of water for the development of cities and human settlements. Urban planning processes should incorporate integrated water resources planning and management, considering urban-rural linkages, at the local and territorial scales, ensuring the participation of multiple sectors, stakeholders, and communities. The NUA calls for strengthening the role of small and intermediate cities in enhancing food security and nutrition systems, providing access to sustainable, affordable, adequate, resilient, and safe housing, infrastructure and basic needs services, and facilitating effective trade links across the urban-rural continuum [2].
Many secondary and tertiary cities and towns in SEA are experiencing rapid but quite often insufficiently planned and managed developments which result in major challenges: the sustainable protection of water resources; the reduction of vulnerability to climate change and disaster risks; and the effective provision of water-related public services for all citizens. In other words, they are struggling to establish more livable, climate change-resilient and inclusive cities. Often insufficiently equipped with institutional capacities, effective management and financing models, adequate administrative mandates and effective procedures, many city administrations in SEA find it difficult to develop and maintain efficient and sustainable water infrastructure, to ensure the comprehensive provision of water related public services, and to protect their water resources. Furthermore, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on urban residents has drawn more attention to the spatial and socio-economic aspects of cities [3].

We evaluate the current status, persisting gaps, and challenges regarding the understanding and assessment of flood risk in the country. The literature review revealed that: (i) 65 % of the reviewed papers did not provide a clear definition of flood risk, (ii) assessments had a tendency to prioritize physical and environmental drivers of risk over social, economic or governance-related drivers, (iii) future-oriented assessments tended to focus on hazard and exposure trends, while vulnerability scenarios were often lacking, (iv) large and middle-sized cities were assessed more frequently than others, (v) only few studies engaged with relevant local stakeholders for the assessment of risk and the development of potential solutions, and (vi) ecosystem-based adaptation and flood risk insurance solutions were rarely considered. Based on these findings, we point out several directions for future research on flood risk in Vietnam.

We used Landsat 8 data and the remote sensing technique Land Surface Temperature (LST) analysis using radiance, temperature brightness and emissivity. LST data were then intersected with the administrative boundaries of the study areas. The identification of priority administrative areas for UGS considered both the area coverage and the percentage of coverage in terms of maximum LST within the administrative units’ boundaries. The result found 8 and 10 administrative units to be hotspots for UGSs, for Phnom Penh and Chittagong respectively. The proposed method will be useful to both government and non-government organizations alike, especially in tropical countries.

The local academic and professional environments in which the programs are based are taken into account by a review of the historical development of the programs. The analysis in mid-2020 took only those universities and programs into account that have curricula and course titles available online. The data were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The second part of the research deals with the discussion of how these courses can be best integrated into the existing curricula and thus serve the adequate education of urban planners by providing some concrete ideas.

The findings present a nuanced view of different retreat approaches. Not all in-city resettlements are successful, and the unpopular off-city projects have a potentially important role for urban and regional development. A strategic planning thread to develop concepts for qualitative off-city settlements that counteract uncontrolled urban sprawl with monofunctional residential areas for urban poor people was deduced. The other thread asks for pathways for inner-city development with innovative, vertical, in-city projects. A final observation was that climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic are worsening the situation in informal settlements, thus strengthening the argument for the planned decentralization of Metro Manila’s congested urban areas.

This study investigates the underlined reasons why upgrading strategically falls short in addressing disaster mitigation and community resilience building. Theoretically, it questions what on-site upgrading is about. Empirically, two hazard-prone informal settlement communities within Metro Manila are examined with their different risk profiles, community development needs and resilience priorities. The core issues of upgrading are, therefore, differentiated at the settlement level with communities’ innate socio-economic and eco-spatial features over time. Meanwhile, the paper heightens the necessity of tackling on-site upgrading at the settlement level and articulating settlements’ spatial correlations with the city development, so as to sustain upgrading outcomes. In addition, this study attempts at setting up a range of scenarios conditioned with COVID pandemic fallout. It endeavors to provide another facet of how to deal with adaptation and resilience. This includes the urgent strategy shift in the housing sector and its financial sustainability, innovative mechanisms to manage uncertainty and risks, lessons for post-COVID planning, etc.

Based on this situation, the joint Myanmar and German research project aims to understand institutional preparedness and awareness for multiple natural risks – in particular cyclone, flood and earthquake risks – in the megacity Yangon. Against the background of risk governance as a key component of successful disaster risk management, the focus is on the following institutional aspects and arrangements: the structural concept of responsibilities, the institutional situation according to disaster preparedness and awareness, and collaborative issues and circumstances related to a disaster.
The research employs qualitative methods to analyse 26 expert interviews (by using the software programme MAXQDA). Institutions in Yangon involved in disaster risk management were asked about their involvement and how they evaluate their preparedness and awareness.

Key findings include that the level of integration between the three disciplines is limited, with only 12% of the papers fully integrating ecology, remote sensing and planning while 24% of the studies use specific methods from one domain only. The vast majority of studies is oriented towards contributing to the knowledge base or monitoring the impacts of existing policies. Few studies are directly policy relevant by either contributing to direct issues in planning and making specific design suggestions or evaluations. The accessibility of the scientific findings remains limited, as the majority of journal articles are not open access and proprietary software and data are frequently used. To overcome these issues, we suggest three future avenues for science as well as three potential entry points for remote sensing into applied urban planning. By doing so, remote sensing data could become a vital tool actively contributing to policies, civil engagement and concrete planning measures by providing independent and cost effective environmental analyses.