DISEÑO DE UN MODELO CONTABLE

Chapter one: The Indian Himalayan State of Uttarakhand is experiencing population growth and undergoing the process of urbanization. This is happening in a region predisposed to multiple natural hazards and exposed to climate change extremes. The urban development unfolding under these circumstances is unplanned and unregulated. Previous research has adopted a hazard based approach to addressing the issue resulting in stricter developmental codes and infrastructure based solutions to the problem. This dissertation approaches the problem from a governance perspective and opens a discussion on the actors involved in addressing risk at a local level. This chapter provides an overview of the research problem, the justification of a governance approach, the research questions posed and the hypotheses proposed. It describes the methods used to answer the research questions and closes by providing an overview of the dissertation. Chapter two: This chapter opens a discussion about the prominent approaches to urban risks and the impact of these approaches in the conceptualization of hazards and vulnerabilities. It then delves into unpacking vulnerability and understanding the roots of disaster risk. It draws from three prominent frameworks of risk root analysis, namely, Forensic Investigation of Risk (FORIN), DRCA (Disaster Root Cause Analysis) and RRCA (Risk Root Cause Analysis) to highlight the pivotal role of governance and knowledge in driving disaster risk in urban areas. It further elaborates on urban risk governance and the role of risk knowledge in shaping it. This is done in light of existing urban risk governance frameworks and literature emerging from middle and low income countries. The applicability of the concept of governance to study urban risks in the Himalayas is discussed. The chapter proposes a governance-knowledge framework linked to the local developmental process as a basis of understanding and improving risk governance in urban areas.

Chapter three: This chapter describes the overall methodology adopted in this research and the methods used to answer the research questions. It starts with explaining the research problem and establishes the research questions. It explains the reason for

selecting a single case study approach to answer the research questions and justifies the choice of case study. It further elaborates the four method of data collection and analyses i.e. document analysis, semi-structured key informant interviews, household surveys and self-observations and their role in data triangulation. The chapter closes by discussing the challenges faced in data collection and elaborating on the ethical considerations adopted. Chapter four introduces the case study area of Almora in Uttarakhand Himalayas. It provides a description of its location, demographic trends, and socio-economic profile. Focusing on urban development, it traces back the urban development process in the town from the early 1500s to present day with a focus on settlement planning. The chapter also provides an introduction to the nature of the built environment in Almora. The chapter concludes by providing an urban risk profile of Almora based on prevalent natural hazards and unsafe conditions in land use practices and the built environment.

Chapter five compares the formal government framework for addressing urban risk against the everyday practices of urban development. The formal framework is drawn from national, state and local level laws and regulations. Everyday development practices are mapped based on survey data and key informant interviews. The juxtaposition of these two processes reveals a set of actors both formal and informal that are involved in addressing urban risks. A model of governance situated at the intersectionality of the established government framework and the prevalent development process is attempted at the end of this chapter.

Chapter six provides a deeper look into the capacities of the actors present in the governance network to address risk. It presents the limited technical and financial capacity of the municipality as the central actor. This reflects in the nature of its relationship with households, building professionals, university and NGO. The chapter concludes by that not all actors contribute to risk positively towards addressing urban risks and nor is the nature of relationship that they have with other actors uniform.

Chapter seven: This chapter discusses the role of risk knowledge among different actors and its importance for risk governance. Risk knowledge is primarily divided into top down scientific knowledge and bottom up local knowledge. The municipality is identified as the pivotal actor which lies at the intersection of these two groups of knowledge. The results point towards gaps in both top down scientific knowledge as well as local knowledge. Furthermore, gaps are identified in the communication and access to knowledge of all actors involved in risk governance. The chapter identifies consolidating risk knowledge as a key objective of the local level governance process.

Chapter eight: This chapter synthesises the theoretical and empirical findings of this dissertation. The first section looks back at the theoretical frame of urban risk governance and draws insights from empirical findings to contextualise it in low- and middle-income countries. It then elaborates on the major empirical and theoretical findings of the research. In the second section of the chapter, recommendation are made addressing the network of risk actors analysed in this dissertation. This includes that state level planning agencies, the local municipality, building professionals, households, university and NGO Recommendations are in the direction of strengthening the local level horizontal governance system.

The figure below presents the overall structure of the dissertation.