Social vulnerability in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area

• Autor(a) principal: Santos, Pedro Pinto
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Ferreira, Tiago Miguel
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10451/57476
• topic: Social vulnerability; Criticality; Support capability; Risk assessment; Risk management

The manifestation of a hazardous process in a given location is clear evidence of a threat to individuals and communities. Without hazard, there is no risk. Vulnerability, however, plays a less evident role in explaining the losses that are observed in databases, whether global or local. Social vulnerability, in particular, represents the underneath conditions that turn individuals and communities more or less able to endure the impacts of hazardous events. A detailed-level analysis of social vulnerability was performed in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, considering the dimension of the individuals’ characteristics—that we define as criticality—and the characteristics of the surrounding territories in the ability to provide support during and timely recovery after the event—that we define as support capability. The study area is highly contrasting in terms of this later dimension, with urban areas concentrating most of the services and equipment that reduce vulnerability. Regarding criticality, the methodology allowed to identify very-localized hotspots laid out to high propensity to losses from two drivers: employment and education (first principal component of criticality) and age, gender, and old urban fabric (second principal component). Analysed separately or combined in a single social vulnerability index, this information is useful in the planning of short-term actions in the strict field of civil protection operations and in mid- to long-term actions considering a wider perspective of risk governance, bringing to the table public policies in the areas of social care, mobility, urban planning, education, and health services, that address the very deep roots of vulnerability.