Workshop report : multi-hazard risk scenarios for Tomorrow's Cities

The development and adoption of multi-hazard approaches to disaster risk reduction (DRR) is a core part of the GCRF Tomorrow’s Cities Research Hub (Tomorrow’s Cities throughout this report). In this context, we define the terms hazard, multi-hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and disaster risk reduction using the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR, 2017) terminology (Table 1). The Tomorrow’s Cities project includes an integrating theme of multi-hazards, working with and across the four Hub cities (Istanbul, Kathmandu, Nairobi, and Quito). This multi-hazards integrating theme aims to catalyse multi-hazard thinking, develop an understanding of multi-hazard knowledge and scenarios for each Hub city, understand how these scenarios can inform future urban planning, and collate and share learning both within and beyond the Tomorrow’s Cities project. Each of the four focus cities within the Tomorrow’s Cities Hub is affected by multiple, potentially interrelated, natural hazards. Known case studies also highlight contexts where events may occur simultaneously or consecutively, thus contributing to disaster risk through changes to the hazard landscape, exposure, or vulnerability, during the scenario. This report summarises the contents and discussions of two 60-minute virtual workshops (30 July 2020, 40 participants; 6 August 2020, 35 participants) delivered by the multi-hazards integrating theme for the Tomorrow’s Cities consortium. Our aims in this workshop were the following: • To introduce the multi-hazards integrating theme; and • To explore the relevance of multi-hazard approaches and scenarios in the Tomorrow’s Cities project. Section 2 focuses on the first workshop examining multi-hazard interrelations and scenarios in the four focus cities in Tomorrow’s Cities. Sections 3 and 4 focus on the second workshop, discussing multi-hazard scenarios in the context of dynamic risk (Section 3) and reducing multi-hazard risk (Section 4). In Section 5, we offer our overall reflections on emerging themes from the workshops and their relevance to Tomorrow’s Cities.