Course syllabus

Introduktion till samhällssäkerhet och resiliens
Introduction to Societal Resilience

VBRN30, 7,5 credits, A (Second Cycle)

Valid for: 2013/14
Decided by: Education Board C
Date of Decision: 2013-04-25

General Information

Main field: Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation.
Elective for: BI4, RH4
Language of instruction: The course will be given in English

Aim

• Provide the students with thematic knowledge and skills to work in disaster risk management and climate change adaptation for sustainable development in a changing world.
• Provide a foundation for students interested in research in disaster risk management and climate change adaptation.

Learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding
For a passing grade the student must

demonstrate understanding of the four overarching functions for societal resilience, to anticipate, recognise, adapt and learn, including what they entail as well as how they depend on each other.

Competences and skills
For a passing grade the student must

demonstrate ability to apply general thematic knowledge concerning risk assessment, forecasting, monitoring, impact assessment, prevention and mitigation, preparedness, response, recovery, and evaluation.

Judgement and approach
For a passing grade the student must

• demonstrate ability to approach disaster risk management, climate change adaptation and sustainable development in a holistic manner.
• demonstrate ability to reflect on the own needs for further knowledge and for ongoing improvement of competence.

Contents

• Lectures
• Case studies
• Literature seminars
• Exercises

Examination details

Grading scale: TH
Assessment: Written individual examination and approved group project. The group project shall be reported both orally and in writing.

Parts
Code: 0113. Name: Introduction to Societal Resilience.
Credits: 7,5. Grading scale: TH.
Code: 0213. Name: Group Assignment.
Credits: 0. Grading scale: UG.

Admission

Admission requirements:

• 180 credits from an internationally recognized university

The number of participants is limited to: 40
Selection: Credits remaining for the degree. First priority to students admitted to the MSc in Risk Management and Safety Engineering, and second priority to student admitted to the BSc in Fire Safety Engineering.
The course might be cancelled: If the number of applicants is less than 16.

Reading list

• Aven, T. & Renn, O.: On risk defined as an event where the outcome is uncertain. 2009, Journal of Risk Research, 12(1), 1-11.
• Becker, P.: Sustainability Science: Analyzing and Managing Risk and Resilience for Sustainable Development. Elsevier, 2013.
• Becker, P., Abrahamsson, M., & Tehler, H.: An emergent means to assurgent ends: Community resilience for safety and sustainability’. 2011, In E. Hollnagel, E. Rigaud, & D. Besnard (Eds.), Proceedings of the fourth resilience engineering symposium, june 8-10, 2011. (pp. 29-35). Sophia Antipolis: MINES ParisTech.
• Bicknell, J, Dodman, D. and Satterthwaite, D.: Adapting cities to climate change: Understanding and addressing the development challenges. London and Sterling: Earthscan., 2009.
• Branlat, M. & Woods, D. D.: ’How do systems manage their adaptive capacity to successfully handle disruptions? A resilience engineering perspective’., Complex Adaptive Systems —Resilience, Robustness, and Evolvability. 2010, Proceedings From the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Conference, Arlington, 11-13 November 2010.
• Choularton, R.: Contingency planning and humanitarian action: A review of practice , (Humanitarian Practice Network Paper No. 59). London: Overseas Development Institute., 2007.
• Coppola, D.P.: Introduction to international disaster management. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann (Elsevier)., 2007.
• IPCC: IPCC fourth assessment report: Climate change 2007. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press., 2007.
• Liu, J., Dietz, T., Carpenter, S. R., Alberti, M., Folke, C., Moran, E., et al.: Complexity of coupled human and natural systems’. 2007, Science 317(5844), 1513-1516.
• Meyer, R. J.: Why we under-prepare for hazards. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press., 2006, In R. J. Daniels, D. F. Kettl, & H. Kunreuther (Eds.), On risk and disaster: Lessons from hurricane katrina. (pp. 153-74).
• Pendall, R., Foster, K. A., & Cowell, M.: Resilience and regions: Building understanding of the metaphor’. 2010, Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 3(1), 71-84.
• Slovic, P.: The risk game. 2001, Journal of Hazardous Materials, 86(1), 17-24.
• UNISDR: UNISDR terminology on disaster risk reduction. Geneva: United Nations. , 2009, Retrieved March 2, 2010, from http://www.unisdr.org/eng/terminology/UNISDR-Terminology-English.pdf.
• Wamsler, C.: Cities, Risk and Disaster. London: Routledge, 2013, Routledge Series on Critical Introduction to Urbanism and the City.
• Wisner, B., Blaikie, P. M., Cannon, T., & Davis, I.: At risk: Natural hazards, people's vulnerability and disasters (2nd ed.). London: Routledge., 2004.

Contact and other information

Course coordinator: Per Becker, per.becker@lucram.lu.se