HAZUR

Hazard urban study (HAZUR) is a structured and systematic examination of the different services and infrastructures of a city or territory in order to identify and evaluate problems that may represent risks to citizens and the city as a system of systems.

summarise all city data, to analyse interdependencies in service networks, to assess impacts aftermaths and cascade effects. It also enables the identification and prioritisation of potential improvement projects, facilitates the definition of crisis management protocols and supports a strategy development process.

HAZUR integrates useful methods to create and implement a resilience strategy inspired by industrial safety methodologies, business continuity, strategic analysis and urban management. HAZUR includes exercises on “What If" and interconnections between services at different levels. The technique also proposes participatory modelling, simulation of domino effects, and analysis of the effects of climate change adaptation measures on urban service operations.

HAZUR is carried out by multi-disciplinary teams of city stakeholders (Players) during a series of meetings. The HAZUR technique is qualitative, and aims to stimulate the imagination of participants to identify potential hazards and operability problems in the city services due to potential cascading effects. Structure and direction are given to the review process by applying standardised guide-word prompts to the review of each node.

HAZUR is a holistic resilience assessment, the city vulnerabilities can be identified, together with its critical infrastructures and key relationships among critical services, by using a common language, visuals and insights from key stakeholders. This allows to understand the existing interdependencies between urban services.

The HAZUR technique was initially developed in the 2010s by professor Luis Fontanals and a research team at the IQS-Universitat Ramón Llull https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_Institute_of_Sarri%C3%A0 to analyze urban services of Barcelona and other territories in the region.

The methodology was improved and applied in different cities and in various european research projects by the original inventors who co-founded a university spin-off.

Nowadays the method is been used by local administrations in Europe to create resilience plans and strategies. It is also used for pedagogical purposes in different university masters about Smart Cities and Resilience.

After some years of market definition different private companies, multilateral organizations, research centers and cities are developing TOOLS, PLATFORMS and SERVICES inspired by approaches and frameworks similar to the pioneer HAZUR methodologies.

References

  • FONTANALS, L., 2012. Desarrollo de una Metodología para el Análisis Cualitativo de la Garantía de Suministro de Servicios Básicos a un Área Urbana. Trabajo de Investigación para DEA. IQS-Universitat Ramon Llull.
  • FONTANALS, L., TRICÁS, J., SEMPERE, J. and FONTANALS, I., 2012. Mejorando la Resiliencia de las ciudades: Conocimiento industrial aplicado a la Gestión de la Ciudad (pdf). Madrid: CONAMA (Congreso Nacional del Medio Ambiente 26-30 Noviembre 2012). Available at: www.conama2012.conama.org/web/generico.php ?idpaginas=&lang=es&menu=257&id=285&op=view (Last visited 10 th October 2013).
  • TOUBIN, M, EIVP. Améliorer la résilience urbaine par un diagnostic collaboratif, l'exemple des services urbains parisiens face à l'inondation. Géographie. Université Paris-Diderot - Paris VII, 2014. Français.
  • FONTANALS, I. The Experience for a Metropolis to bring Resilience to Every City Barcelona. (2016). Global Risk Forum GRFDavos
  • Cascading Effects and Feedbacks Between Hazards in European Cities. Alison Prior Goal: Doctoral research funded by EU H2020 project "Resilience to cope with Climate Change in Urban arEas (RESCCUE)". (2018)
  • Mapping urban infrastructure interdependencies and fuzzy risks (Evans et al. 2018).January 2018 Procedia Engineering 212:816-823 DOI: 10.1016/j.proeng[[1]] Projects: 2016-2020 RESCCUE (Resilience to cope with Climate Change in Urban Areas – a multisectorial approach focusing on water)CADDIESCascading Effects and Feedbacks Between Hazards in European Cities
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