The production of unequal vulnerability to flood hazards: A conceptual framework for hazards research in Canada's cities

摘要

Flood risk is a growing concern in Canada's cities. Residents of these cities have differential risk according to their unique vulnerability and exposure to flood hazards. Factors related to societal structural forces, human agency, and place interact to produce vulnerability to hazards. Analysis of the factors that influence vulnerability will lead to a better understanding of how unequal vulnerability to hazards is produced among residents of cities in Canada. This article provides a critical synthesis of the hazards and political ecology literatures and then draws upon it to develop a conceptual framework for looking across scales and across actors to identify and situate the factors that influence vulnerability. The framework centres on what are referred to as indicators and determinants of vulnerability, and how they interact to produce unequal vulnerability. The framework can be used to gain insights to what produces vulnerability and how, or whether, policy measures can address these factors to equitably reduce risk.