Crisis Communication in Climate Disasters: A Pathway to SDG 11 Resilient Cities Frameworks for disaster preparedness and urban risk communication

Abstract

Climate-related risks include floods, heatwaves, cyclones, and wildfires, and all of them are a serious threat to urban fragilities and the urban population. Effective communication during a crisis proves crucial in reducing human and even economic losses as it enables one to plan ahead, respond ahead as well as recover. This paper discusses how crisis communication models can be used to promote Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11, which is Sustainable Cities and Communities, with emphasis on resilience-forming practices. Following the earlier studies and best practices, the paper points to the ways of how to combine urban risk communication with the system of disaster preparation, paying an attention to its inclusiveness, trust, and real-time transmission. As a methodological procedure, the paper relies on the comparative study of communication practices used in the recent climate disaster events, which are supplemented by secondary literature review. Findings show that community engagement and information and communication technologies through digital channels, transparency, and multi-channel communication is the key to enhancing urban resilience. Nonetheless restraints are, technological disparity, deception of falsehoods and institutional coordination. In conclusion, the paper suggests the development of adaptive, citizen-ready designs of communication systems by exploiting artificial intelligence and locally relevant knowledge that can facilitate better preparedness and response. Future studies ought to be aimed at scalable models of communication that capture marginalized groups and measures of success and failures of long-term urban resilience