海角社区

Journey to a risk based, climate conscious planning system: Understanding risk and exploring vulnerability through scenario planning

Friday 10.45am-12.15pm

Kim Kirstein M海角社区 and Julie Brook R海角社区

The State Planning Policy requires natural hazards to be addressed through the completion of a fit for purpose risk assessment. Using established Queensland best practice in natural hazard risk assessments, step one is understanding risk (hazard identification). Further key components of a risk assessment is determining exposure of people and property to a hazard and then understanding the circumstances that contribute to vulnerability. Without this understanding appropriate mitigation and risk reduction actions cannot be appropriately attributed.

For every aspect of exposure and vulnerability there are measures which increase or mitigate risk. Not all are in the realm of planning. Queensland’s statewide risk assessment and disaster management frameworks reiterate the importance of a role for everyone.

So, what is a planner’s role? How well do planers understand risk and hazards, what it means for their communities, how planning schemes can respond to risk through risk-based planning principles and the divergent circumstances of exposure and vulnerability across various scales from household to region.

This interactive workshop will explore our planning systems at various scales to build understanding of key elements of a risk assessment: exposure and vulnerability. The workshop will do this through assigning scenarios and avatars and allow participants to set a path to greater resilience.

Working in groups, teams will be assigned:

• a natural hazard scenario using an all hazards approach: heatwave, severe storm (including cyclones), flood, bushfire and landslide and combinations of all;
• an avatar with a story reflecting ordinary community members with varying levels of exposure and vulnerability; and
• an explanation of expected impacts of the scenario.

Groups will be required to:

• identify and develop a risk summary for their avatar and scenario;
• identify potential impacts, that the avatar may face over various time scales;
• differentiate between response, preparedness and long term resilience and provide a resilience plan over timescales; and
• deliver their findings to other attendees.

The outcomes of the workshop are a greater understanding of the complexity of risk understanding, planning for natural hazards for a diverse community, the challenges of nominating acceptable and tolerable risk. Participants will have an appreciation of the spectrum of circumstances that determine exposure and vulnerability in their communities.