Vulnerability, Territory, Population: From Critique to Public Policy

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the term "vulnerable" was applied to "individuals" and to "populations", "groups" and "countries" in discussions, laws and regulations; now it applies to all objects in relation to all kinds of threats. However, rather than a label for governing people and places, the notion of "vulnerability" was expected to become an instrument to tackle the root causes of disasters, poverty and maldevelopment, as well as the inequalities and injustices they bring, whether social, political, economic or environmental. Despite this radical dimension, vulnerability has gradually been incorporated into public policies and international recommendations for global risk and disaster management. This book is intended for researchers, students, managers and decision makers concerned with the management of not only risks and crises but also climate and environmental change. The first part examines the multiple theoretical and conceptual approaches; the second explores vulnerability assessments, using examples from the Global North and Global South; and the third discusses tools, public policies and actions taken to reduce vulnerability.

Table of Contents:
Introduction xiii Samuel RUFAT and Pascale METZGER Part 1 The Multiple Theoretical and Conceptual Approaches to Vulnerability 1 Chapter 1 Plural Vulnerabilities: Approaches in the Humanities 3 Sylvia BECERRA and Anne PELTIER Chapter 2 Conceptual Models of Vulnerability or Vulnerabilities 25 Samuel RUFAT Chapter 3 Risks, Crises and Ordinary Vulnerability 43 Pascale METZGER Chapter 4 Vulnerabilities, Risk Governance and the Interplay of Stakeholders 63 Julien LANGUMIER Part 2 Territorial Approaches and Vulnerability Assessments 85 Chapter 5 The Challenge of Measuring and Operationalizing Vulnerabilities 87 Samuel RUFAT Chapter 6 Assessing Territorial Vulnerability: Concepts and Methods for an Integrated Approach to Vulnerability 113 Elise BECK and Jérémy ROBERT Chapter 7 Analyzing the Vulnerability of Networks and Critical Infrastructures 135 Serge LHOMME Chapter 8 From the Health Vulnerability of Territories to the Reduction of Health Inequalities 153 Zoé VAILLANT and Stéphane RICAN Part 3 From Tools to Public Policies, Discourses and Actions 169 Chapter 9 What Are Vulnerability Maps For? 171 Samuel RUFAT and Patrick PIGEON Chapter 10 Measuring Vulnerability: By Whom and for Whose Benefit? The Significance of Participation 195 Loïc LE DÉ, JC GAILLARD, Louise BAUMANN and Jake Rom CADAG Chapter 11 Vulnerability in a Time of Climate Change and Global Urbanization 213 Béatrice QUENAULT Chapter 12 Actors and Discourses of Vulnerability Reduction: From International to Local 235 Sandrine REVET and Pascale METZGER Conclusion 257 Samuel RUFAT and Pascale METZGER List of Authors 265 Index 267

About the Author :
Samuel Rufat is Professor at CY Cergy Paris University and the Institut Universitaire de France. His research interests include vulnerability, resilience, adaptation assessments, geospatial modeling, risk perception, emergency management and disaster mitigation. Pascale Metzger is a researcher at the French National Research Institute for Sustainable Development (IRD) and a member of the Prodig laboratory. She studies risks and environment in the large cities of Latin America and highlights the role of social sciences in disaster risk reduction.