Abstract Panel


Authors Information
SequenceTypeName TitleFirst NameLast NameDepartmentInstitute / Affiliation
1 Author Ms. Samiksha Kanaujia Department of Anthropology University of Hyderabad
Abstract Information
TrackID
:
IUAES23_ABS_O4946
Abstract Theme
:
P044 - Interpreting the Etiology and Effects of Disasters and their Responses Integrating Social, Cultural and Natural Dimensions: Anthropological Analyses and Interventions
Abstract Title
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Floods, Urban Process and Manifestations of Risk and Vulnerability in a City in India: a study of a peri-urban area in Gorakhpur city.
Short Abstract
:
Gotham and Greenberg (2014) in their book ‘Crisis cities: Disaster and Redevelopment in in New York and New Orleans’ link disaster studies and urban studies and argue that it is the social forces that produce systemic risk and vulnerability; embedded in how the ‘urban’ is formed through a continuous process of changing the nature around it. The ecological issues that we are witnessing by spurred urbanisation are indeed making cities an essential site for confronting the environmental enigma that impacts all of us. Flood events are becoming more frequent; according to a report (Human Cost of Weather-Related Disaster) published by UNDRR in October 2020, disasters like flood and storms have increased globally. The present study attempts to study flood risks in a riverine area which are also a manifestation of the urban process.
Long Abstract
:

The entire world is rapidly urbanising, either in terms of urban population growth or a shift in economic activities from agriculture to non-agriculture activities, while these processes are easily traceable in metro cities as they become evident sites to witness. In contrast, urban processes are more nuanced and localised in second-tier cities. In the same thread of thought, this paper seeks to comprehend the ecological consequences of the urban process in Gorakhpur, a second-tier city in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. This paper aims to highlight that urban floods are not limited to metro cities, but with the accelerated growth of the urban process, even small and medium cities are experiencing urban floods. The literature on the ecological consequences of urban process in small and medium cities remain scanty; thus, this paper will contribute to it and expand on the knowledge domain of urban floods by looking beyond metro cities. The paper investigates the urban process and flood issue in Gorakhpur city in terms of converting agricultural and wetlands into commercial development sites, the issue of city drainage congestion, and a shift towards marker-oriented agriculture. In this paper, I intend to recalibrate the theoretical framework of urban political ecology beyond the metro cities and focus on the urban process in a second-tier city and its peri-urban areas. 

Abstract Keywords
:
urban process, flood, vulnerability, second-tier city, peri-urban