Pillars of the Urban Risk Assessment ■ 55
Tertiary Level Institutional Assessment: Interventions Gap Analysis
(iv) Undertake a gap analysis that identifies shortcomings in current city management tools, and policies programs, and that provides preliminary recommendations to mainstream risk reduction. A city may then consider ranking appropriate agencies to assess their capacity, in terms of personnel and financial management, to administer new resilience-building programs if discrete adaptation funding were made available through the National Adaptation Programs of Action. Such an assessment better positions city governments to engage national decision-making bodies in discussions of effective resource allocation for climate change or to explore possibilities of receiving fiscal transfers for risk financing.
Socioeconomic Assessment The socioeconomic assessment focuses on (1) identifying demographic, housing, welfare, human development, and investment variables, and (2) developing comparative ranking of specific areas based on a simple qualitative codification. City managers may consider demographic and housing variables that will contribute to a more robust risk assessment (figure 3.5). Many of these factors, such as housing characteristics, are important inputs for the hazard impact assessment Figure 3.5 Socioeconomic Considerations for Understanding Risk
Socio-economic
Demographic
Census
Housing
Quantity, materials, condition, access to services
Welfare & human development information
Income, distribution, poverty, education, Human Development Index
Production & investment
Metric areas of housing, commercial infrastructure, physical infrastructure; land value
Source: International Development Research Centre (2008).