Case study
To what extent has the city in your chosen case study 'bounced back' or 'bounced forward' since the disaster?
In your report, refer to:
- Solnit, R. 2009. A Paradise Built in Hell. The Extraordinary Communities That Arise In Disaster. Viking. New York. [Chapter 1: The Mizpah Café pp 13-22]
- Cretney, R and Bond, S. 2014. 'Bouncing Back' to capitalism? Grass roots autonomous activism in shaping discourses of resilience and transformation following disaster Resilience. 2(1): 18-3
- At least three references from the 'case study tab'.
- At least three additional refereed journal articles on your case study disaster (which are not listed in the case study tab)
Chosen case study ismelborne Australia bushfire 2009
Fire, Climate Change and Urbanisation (Victorian Bushfires)
A glow emanates from the Upwey/Belgrave bushfire
Australia is a land of climatic extremes; the constraints of the landscape, its water and land systems were poorly understood by early white settlers when they developed the land based on British models.
The bushfires that have punctuated Australian history are a reminder that we live in socio-ecological systems whose quality and character cannot always be predicted. This is especially the case as Australia is indeed a ‘fire continent' (much of its ecosystem depends on fire for regeneration). The state of Victoria, in particular is very vulnerable to bushfires (it represents 3% of Australia's landmass but suffered about 50% of the economic damage from bushfire pre-2009, see Buxton et al. 2011, p.4 ). Victoria is marked by numerous fire events (including Black Thursday 1851, Black Friday 1939, Ash Wednesday 1983 - see Griffiths 2009 ).
With the 2009 Black Saturday fires (see Figure 1 and 2) and the hazard of summer's bushfire season (across all Australian States, see map), it is increasingly evident that business-as-usual practices have reached their limits and that the challenges posed by bushfires need to be critically examined and addressed (see O'Neill and Handmer 2012)