Introduction
Caracas is an important and vibrant city, placed within a spectacular natural setting. Unfortunately, though no fault of its own, from time to time it is subject to highly destructive powerful natural forces. Yet, while these events cannot be prevented, the city can prepare for them and weather the consequences quite well. It is a "dual" city, accommodating not only the formal urban neighborhoods and service centers, but also extensive self-generated barrios that house more than half of the city's population. They occupy difficult terrain, they lack services, and they experience serious economic and social problems - as is the case in many other cities, except that in Caracas the conditions are not quite as dire as found in less prosperous societies. Nevertheless, the barrios are especially vulnerable to natural disasters. We, as many other urbanists in Venezuela, regarded them not as blight upon the city, but rather as constituting major building blocks of the future city because of their internal energy, and the constant efforts of the inhabitants to upgrade their living conditions, however, they do need help. The city presents a modern face to the outside although there is a need to devote attention to inner districts, particularly around the edges, and to several vital infrastructure systems. Evaluations by our study team, the Red Cross, and other concerned organizations suggested that purposeful programs to advance disaster preparedness are urgently needed.
About the Methodology
Vulnerability to natural disasters is one of the issues among many that
face urban settlements. Since Caracas was lacking a defined regional plan,
the studio endeavored to sketch one, prior to tackling the specific hazard
mitigation issues. The work, thus, had two distinct parts:
- A set of scenarios outlining the future regional structure, indicating
some preliminary preferences.
- An outline action plan for hazard preparedness and potential
damage mitigation, indicating specifically where further explorations
are necessary.
Studio participants considered that it was appropriate to employ the rational
planning process, and followed a systematically structured sequence of
steps leading to long-range plan recommendations. Besides a data collection
and analysis phase, goals and objectives were carefully defined, a multitude
of possible future scenarios envisioned, and a thorough examination and
screening of those scenarios was conducted to arrive at a preferred future
framework. In the second phase, the strategic planning process was adopted,
as that enabled participants to pursue a range of potential solutions
based on the need to overcome the kinds of adversarial situations that
exist with the threat of natural disasters. Seismic, mud/land slides and
flooding hazards were analyzed, defining opportunities to identify potential
means for addressing high-risk scenarios. From this analysis an action
plan emerged, representing the bulk of the studio findings.
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory -
Spring 2001