How to measure the sustainability of cities?
Well for insurance companies it’s based on the risk of cities. Therefore SwissRe an insurance company has calculated the 10 riskiest metropolitan areas in the world. Based on three major threats
- River Flooding
- Earthquakes
- Storms
10. Teheran
Is threatened by earthquakes. Is located on the Northern Anatolian fault, which is highly active and threatens 13.6 million people.
9. Los Angeles
14.7 million occupants are threatened by earthquakes due to the city’s location on the San Andreas Fault.
8. Shanghai
Is built on a floodplain and river delta.
7. Calcutta (Kolkata)
10.5 million inhabitants are threatened by hurricanes, tsunamis and river floods.
6. Nagoya
2.4 million people are threatened, suffers from the same threats as Tokyo and Osaka.
5. Jakarta
Almost perversely, 40% of the city is below sea level, lying in a basin and its 17.7 million population vulnerable to earthquakes. It is also has a risk of river flooding.
4. Osaka-Kobe
With a population of 14.6 million, lives under threat of earthquakes, tsunamis and floods.
3. The Pearl River Delta
Is a ribbon development home to more than 42 million people that includes Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Macau and Ghangzhou. Not only is it situated along a floodplain but under threat of storm surges, cyclones and river floods.
2. Manila
Is built off the Philippines trench and as such is not just threatened by earthquakes, but also by typhoons such as Haiyan, which devastated the country last year. Thousands died as a result.
1. Tokyo-Yokohama
tops the list because its 37 million inhabitants are threatened by earthquakes, monsoons, river floods and tsunamis. As a country, Japan is also the most exposed to risk of tsunamis as its metropolitan areas line the so-called River of Fire earthquake fault lines.
The table below shows the absolute number of people potentially affected by the value of working days lost in relation to the local and national economy. In densely populated metropolitan areas,earth- quakes and storms could affect virtually the entire population. Although more common than any other natural disaster, river floods typically only affect a limited part of a metropolitan area. Storm surges and tsunamis only affect people living near the coast.
This is just one way to measure the sustainability of cities. However there are several indicators to measure it.
I f you would like to see the complete study here is the link
with information from sustainablecitiescollective.com
@ivettemb & @jeffinergon