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Abstract
This article unpacks the relationship between risk perceptions and responses in cities of the global south. It first challenges the assumption that people are irrational and/or lack the ability to comprehend risk when they do not prioritize risk reduction. Second, it argues that the nature of risk perceptions has less direct influence on responses than previous research suggests. A social constructivist approach is applied to explore how individuals process risk and to what extent these perceptions shape preparedness activities. Results are based on ethnographic research in Cochabamba city in Bolivia, where everyday climatic hazards are linked to slow-onset and small-scale impacts. Findings first suggest that people comprehend risk in sophisticated ways. Then through exploration of self-build housing and the adoption of an anthropocentric conceptualization of the house, the article shows that people with high- and low-risk perceptions equally prepare for the impacts of climatic hazards. This is because people prioritize the transformation and consolidation of social, cultural and economic processes which are not directly related to risk reduction when designing and constructing self-built houses. However, disaster risk reduction is automatically mainstreamed into housing because the design and construction features which people associate with risk reduction represent local architectural norms that are associated with ‘good practice’.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Birte Vogel for taking the time to read a draft version of this article and providing useful comments.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1 This article focuses on disaster-risk reduction (DRR), rather than climate change adaptation (CCA). However, it is impossible to separate DRR from CCA. Global warming is driving increased frequency and/or severity of climate-related hazards. These hazards damage the livelihoods of people, in turn making them increasingly vulnerable, and subsequently increasing their disaster risk (IFRC, Citation2014; IPCC, Citation2014).
2 Everyday refers to hazards which are constantly present or common in the urban environment (Bull-Kamanga et al., Citation2003).
3 Assets are the ‘stock of financial, human, natural or social resources that can be acquired, developed, improved and transferred across generations.’ (Ford, Citation2004).
4 The ontological position of objective risk is inaccurate as measurement inescapably encompasses human interpretation when making judgements about the parameters to measure risk (Pidgeon et al., Citation1992, p. 90).
5 In 2008 there was a landslide that affected 72 households at one time.
6 Sun dried bricks made of mud, water and straw.
7 Indirect experience indicates damage to property or person, and witnessing the immediate impacts of a hazard with one's own eyes. Indirect experience is found in secondary sources of information provided through informal social networks, opinion leaders, the media, personal networks or public agencies.
8 Despite the rhetoric from the local government, the map only indicates levels of ground instability, while exposure to rainwater and measurements of vulnerability are overlooked in the analysis of risk.
9 Census data shows that 81% of houses were entirely made of adobe in 1992 and that this number dropped to 73% in 2001 (INE Citation2001).
10 Other research has shown that the house is often used as a resource to reduce disaster risk in cities of the global south (Green Citation2008; Wamsler, Citation2014).
11 These factors are not exhaustive, however they are the aspects that interviewees emphasized. For further reading on the factors that motivate and shape housing (re)construction in cities of the global south see Inclan Valadez, Citation2013, Kellett, Citation2005, Klaufus, Citation2012, Turner, Citation1976.
12 Physical improvements are part of an integrated programme, which also includes education on the causes of Chagas disease and training in vigilance methods.