Fan, X; Albuerne, A; (2022) How Could Community Participation Help to Achieve Build-Back-Better. In: Proceedings of the International Conference on Natural Hazards and Infrastructure. (pp. p. 147). ICONHIC: Athens, Greece.

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Abstract

Seismic events in China cause serious losses in human lives, as well as damage to infrastructure. On May 12th 2008, the Wenchuan Earthquake of magnitude Mw7.9 heavily shocked most of Western China, resulting in large numbers of housing severely damaged or lost. Recovery and reconstruction quickly kicked off in the affected areas, involving local and national governments and other international actors. This paper focuses on community participation in post-earthquake reconstruction projects in rural areas affected by this earthquake, taking the village of Daping in Sichuan province as a case study to discuss how community participation can contribute to ‘build-back-better’ strategies and sustainable rural development. The reconstruction of Daping took place in 2008 and 2009 after the Wenchuan Earthquake. The authors have explored the process through literature analysis and site investigations, including semi-structured interviews with the local community and local government officials. The local community in Daping drove the building reconstruction, rather than built-environment professionals, and were actively involved in the design and rebuilding process by drawing learnings from traditional building techniques, seismic construction, architectural layout and other vernacular knowledge in relation to dealing with natural changes and the environment. The study exemplifies how community involvement strengthens build-back-better strategies, particularly through the use of local knowledge, which can result in solutions that are better adapted to the needs and the culture of the local communities by enhancing local construction typologies, arranging safer settlements and utilizing more appropriate materials. The findings suggest that regional culture may positively impact post-earthquake reconstruction, supporting the sustainable development of rural areas.

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