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284Towards safer and more secure citiesRe-planning the cityto design out risksinherited from pastplanning decisions isimportantParticipatory GIScan enable theextension of riskmanagement andurban land-useplanning intoinformal and slumsettlementsLand-use planning for risk reduction needs appropriate toolsand must be set within a supportive and responsive urbangovernance regime.Because of the scale of resources and the number ofpeople whose lives can be affected by land-use planning,strong governance systems are required to protect the legitimacyof decisions and to maximize compliance. Legalinstruments and capacity for oversight and enforcement arealso required to support implementation. Implementationand the quality of planning decision-making are oftenstrongest when strategies are inclusive. Governance systemsthat include local voices and foster individual and localresponsibility for safe land use, and that can support local,decentralized leadership, can be more effective than overlycentralized regimes. This is particularly the case where rapidurbanization has stretched capacity for oversight andenforcement, and where centralized approaches are notpractical. A balance must be kept between decentralizedresponsibility and the maintenance of minimum standardsfor safe land-use planning. This is a difficult balance to getright and a large part of the recipe for success surrounds thegeneration and distribution of information and knowledgeon land use, vulnerability and hazard, and the developmentand use of more inclusive decision-support tools.The advantages of inclusive strategies for urban riskreduction are discussed later in this chapter. This sectionconcentrates on actions driven by municipalities and localgovernment, although a common theme for success ispartnership with other local actors, international organizations,the state and the private sector. Land-use planningneeds to face a number of challenges, some of which werediscussed in Chapter 8. Key future challenges include thefollowing:• The global proliferation of slums calls for innovativeland-use planning procedures. Providing frameworks formore participatory planning and extending planninginto informal settlements can help to build resilience inthe face of risk from natural and human-made hazards.Integrated projects and programmes for slum upgradingemerged during the 1990s, and these provide abackground of experience for innovation built on inclusiveplanning. 17• Re-planning the city to design out risks inherited frompast planning decisions is important. Examples of thisinclude planning for buffer zones (using mangroves, saltmarshes and river floodplains to absorb hazard); andpreventing the establishment of major industrial andport facilities on reclaimed land in cities at risk fromearthquake that may be prone to liquefaction, such asKingston (Jamaica) and Kobe (Japan).• Planning for risk reduction in the city region in a waythat recognizes that the city is not an isolated systemand will be at risk from disaster in its hinterland is alsovery important. It is the hinterland that provides inputsand a sink for wastes produced by the city. Examples ofwhere this approach has been recognized includeMexico City and New Delhi. This approach alsoconcedes that the economy of the city drives environmentalchange in its hinterland, so that urban areas arepartly responsible for peri-urban and rural risk.Examples of this include environmental degradationcaused by fuelwood extraction for charcoal and thedegradation of floodplains caused by the extraction ofgravel from riverbeds for the construction industry.• Yet another challenge is planning for global risk reduction– for example, by reducing dependency uponprivate or collective car use in order to mitigate climatechange, as well as atmospheric pollution and accidentrates in cities. Land-use patterns that bring residential,educational, recreational, commercial and employmentactivities closer together can make a major contributionto reducing the pollution footprint of cities. 18In the following sub-sections, opportunities for improvingplanning performance and examples of practice that pointtowards future directions in land-use planning which canintegrate disaster risk reduction are reviewed. These areareas of innovation that will improve the effectiveness andaccountability of land-use planning across the range ofchallenges that lie ahead. Pathways for building resiliencewithin urban planning through innovations in data collection,management and analysis, as well as throughdecision-support tools and institutional reform, areexamined.Data collection, management and analysisTechnological innovation provides new opportunities forcollecting and manipulating data on hazard, human vulnerabilityand disaster impacts. Geographic information systems(GIS) and organized data collection systems both offer scopeto improve the evidence base for urban planning. Box 12.5offers experience in the use of GIS for risk mapping gainedby Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ). 19During recent years, technological advances in GIShave led to the development and improvement of numerousinstruments and methods for physical hazard mapping andanalysis. In contrast, the integration of social, economic andenvironmental variables within GIS models, risk maps andrisk analysis, generally, still remains a challenge. It is in thisarea where improvements might be looked for in the future.Better integration of social, economic and environmentalvariables within GIS and risk models might be achievedthrough more systematic formal data collection systemsmanaged by municipalities. Participatory GIS (P-GIS), inparticular, can generate relevant socio-economic andenvironmental data that may serve as an input for riskmodels and plans. P-GIS combines participatory methodologieswith GIS technologies in order to involve communitiesin the production of spatial data on hazards. P-GIS can thusengage local stakeholders in land-use planning and riskmanagement and contribute to efforts to decentralizeplanning. The involvement of local actors opens scope forbetter communication and strengthens local monitoring ofthe impacts of risk reduction policies. 20 In this way, P-GIScan enable the extension of risk management and urbanland-use planning into informal and slum settlements.