Urbanization, environment, risk and vulnerability: in search of an interdisciplinary construction

Abstract

In contemporary cities, natural and inducedthreats hit particularly hard populations in a stateof social insecurity. Extending beyond traditionaloutlooks on poverty, vulnerability studiesacknowledge complex processes which reinforceinsecurity in these groups. In light of the varietyof issues involved, our objective is to examineanalyses on threats, risks and vulnerability,while attempting to understand their procedures,outreach and limits. The discussion dwells ona bibliographic review of different lines onvulnerability. It shows that traditional approaches,either physical-environmental or social, adoptingquantitative or qualitative procedures, tend toremain within specific focuses. Interdisciplinaryapproaches integrating social and environmentalprocesses into a spatial outlook representa required enlargement of perspective invulnerability studies.