Clustering social vulnerability: an application model

The growing vulnerability of urban areas to dangerous events is due to numerous factors: the unpredictability of some significant climate changes, the complex dynamics of urban growth, and urban policies’ efficiency in providing adequate responses to the need to reduce risks. Scientific literature and international documents in sustainable development and disaster risk reduction emphasize the importance of disaster risk management instead of disaster management alone. One of the aspects that inform the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 is implementating the experience gained through national and international strategies in plans for disaster risk reduction. The intent is to raise public and institutional awareness, trigger political commitment and involve stakeholders at different levels. What emerged from the previous decade (2005–2015) is that the consumption of goods and people increased faster than vulnerability decreased. This work describes an applied methodology for assessing vulnerability in an urban area, through the quantification of an index. The analysis led to mapping territories with disadvantaged characteristics from the point of view of social vulnerability, using R-project and GIS software. The quantitative analysis underlines the dimensions that influence the vulnerability, highlighting evident clustering in specific geographic areas. The research represents an analytical approach to evaluate the priority interventions in the regulatory instruments (plans and programs) in line with the tendency to include prevention among the planning criteria for environmental protection against risks and ensuring the conditions for sustainable development.