'Out of the Ordinary'

Workshop, 22nd - 25th June 2015

The three day workshop focused on issues surrounding policy-making in cities facing extreme challenges. It was held at the GSSI, with visiting lecturers from universities in Italy and the Netherlands.

I attended lectures on the morning of Wednesday 24th which were themed around post-earthquake disaster management and policy. In particular, the lecture "Earthquake and Power: Reconstruction as a tool of Government", by Nello Conte of University Iuav of Venice, discussed issues in L'Aquila. Conte showed that earthquakes are a 'social construct', whose management depends on how people define their needs and risks. In the post-quake emergency phase, he believes local people are considered to be passive subjects by government bodies, and it is only during the phase of reconstruction that active involvement of public and private groups are taken into account. However, this is usually just to give a public 'character' to a largely government led reconstruction process.