- Title
- Addressing the Impacts of Inland Floods on Informal Housing in Honiara, Solomon Islands
- Creator
- Ahmed, Iftekhar
- Relation
- Advances in 21st Century Human Settlements
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-2248-2_4
- Publisher
- Springer
- Resource Type
- book chapter
- Date
- 2023
- Description
- In this chapter, building resilience of informal housing is explored based on the case of Honiara, Solomon Islands. Informal housing is severely impacted by natural hazards throughout the world. Institutional approaches towards informal housing vary widely, but there is now growing consensus that instead of eviction and relocation, in-situ upgrading offers positive outcomes. Given the limited work on informal settlements in the Pacific region compared to other parts of the Global South, a research agenda is identified focusing on this region. Much of the discourse on the Pacific region deals with coastal climate change impacts relating to global activities within the current Anthropocene Epoch, however, inland floods with damaging impacts, as evident for example in Honiara, is less covered, however, they are also related to the Anthropocene. This chapter thus focuses on the case study of Honiara, a rapidly urbanising city with a significant proportion of its population residing in informal housing. This is an issue that is strongly linked to global frameworks; there is of course a direct connection to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and also to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 13 on Climate Action, and also SDG 10 on Reduced Inequalities and SDG 11 on Sustainable Cities and Communities. Flood impacts on informal housing built without legal tenure on exposed sites are pronounced because of the use of vulnerable building materials without following resilient construction guidelines. Local land-use planning and building codes largely do not recognise informal housing. There are nonetheless opportunities for building resilience of informal housing by drawing on the initiatives, networks and skills of informal housing residents. Thus, a potential framework for informal housing improvement is proposed based on such contextual factors. There is a need for further research to develop a comprehensive suite of design and construction guidelines specifically applicable for informal settlements in Honiara, which could also have relevance for the wider Pacific region.
- Subject
- floods; Honiara; informal housing; resilience; upgrading; SDG 11; SDG 13; SDG 14; SDG 17; Sustainable Development Goals
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1495386
- Identifier
- uon:54003
- Identifier
- ISBN:9789819922475
- Language
- eng
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