The Brief: Designing for disaster

Hurricanes, typhoons, earthquakes and landslides – headlines this month have been overflowing with natural disasters.The Asia-Pacific is known as the most disaster-prone region in the world, and its policymakers are under pressure to design its rapidly growing urban centres to withstand catastrophe. How can they prepare for events which are destructive, unpredictable, and don’t respect national borders?In this episode of The Brief, Edwina Landale talks to David Sanderson about why poor countries suffer the worst disasters, how urbanisation and technological change could shape the future of disaster resilience, and how Australia is failing its Pacific neighbours.Professor David Sanderson is the inaugural Judith Neilson Chair in Architecture at UNSW, and is an expert in designing for disaster. David has over 25 years’ experience working in development and emergencies and has carried out a number of assignments for NGOs and donors across the world.Edwina Landale is the presenter of The Brief. She is a student of Politics, Philosophy, and Economics at the ANU.Show notes | The following were referred to in this episode:Humanitarian Innovation FundPolicy Forum Pod is available on iTunes, Stitcher, and wherever you get your podcasts. We’d love to hear your feedback for this podcast series! Send in your questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes to [email protected]. You can also Tweet us @APPSPolicyForum or find us on Facebook.This episode of Policy Forum Pod was written and produced by Edwina Landale. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.