Chapter 1 Introduction to urban risk reduction

Cities and urban areas are increasingly becoming the settlement of choice for a majority of humans. Many of the global environmental problems that we are now facing have their precedence and causes in the cities and urban areas we live in. Lessons in understanding urban risk are now emerging – urban hazards and risk are predominantly human-induced, and exacerbate natural events. Various economic, social, and economic aspects compound the risks that urban residents face. Urban lifestyles and resource consumptions can be directly or indirectly attributed to the many environmental consequences that we are seeing – both within the city, as well as the entire hinterland or urban watershed that it is located in.