Mehdi NOJAVAN1, Alireza SADEGHIAN1, Mahsa MOHAJERAN2, Abdollah SOBANI3 1university of Tehran, Iran, Islamic Republic of; 2university of Birjand, Iran, Islamic Republic of; 3Department of Hydraulic Engineering, K.N. University ofTechnology, Tehran, Iran

1. University of Tehran
Graduate faculty of Environment
Department of Engineering Management of Natural Disaster
The role of land use planning in disaster risk reduction
Mehdi Nojavan, Alireza Sadeghian, Abdollah Sobani, Mahsa Mohajeran
Presenter: Mehdi Nojavan

2. The role of land use planning in disaster risk reduction
Land-use planning is one of the most challenging issues to implement because of
conflicting values held about land by different segments of the population.
Deciding how to use land is demanding enough. It is even more challenging if there
are competing views about the role that land should play in reducing collective
exposure to risk.

3. The role of lad use planning in disaster risk reduction
INTRODUCTION
85 percent of people exposed to earthquakes, cyclones, floods and droughts live in
developing countries.
The massive cost of disasters poses a significant threat to achieving the development
goals. Direct disaster damage costs alone have shot up from US$ 75.5 billion in the
1960s to nearly a trillion dollars in the past ten years. Even these ballooning figures
cannot capture the long-term cost to the people and communities that bear the brunt of
disasters, paying with their lives, their livelihoods and their future development
prospects.
Land use planning is a newly emerging disaster reduction method. Land use planning
is potentially powerful mitigation tool as it seeks to mitigate the risks and vulnerability
from several geological and other hazards. So the logic of land use planning is
compatible with disaster risk reduction because both are systematic, future-oriented,
decision-oriented, and proactive.

4. The role of land use planning in disaster risk reduction
Urban Land Use and Significance of Planning
The planning and control of land use includes a vast spectrum of general
policies about it which leave determining effects and influences on programs
and plans of urban development and cover economical, environmental, social
and political aspects.
Land use planning in the present cities includes two main categories:
The expansion of the city,
City restoration,
The degree of effectiveness of land use planning and its efficiency in case of
an earthquake from the time of the earthquake till the return of the city to
normal conditions is significant and determines two indicators of
vulnerability (Casualties and Destruction).

5. The role of land use planning in disaster risk reduction
Urban Land Use and Significance of Planning
Due to structural issues, in Iran, land use plans have been restricted to land
use maps, per capita use tables, and regulations of zoning.
The most important criteria for determining appropriate locations for
different urban activities and urban land use can be considered as the
followings:
1.Compatibility,
2.Comfort,
3.Efficiency,
4.Favorability,
5.Health and
6.Safety.
Attending to these factors and considering them in the land use planning
improves efficiency of the city, welfare and comfort for the citizens, and
minimizing the fatalities, and economical damages because of the
earthquake.

6. The role of land use planning in disaster risk reduction
The effective factors in making the land use plan strategic
The effective factors are divided into two categories:
1. The executive regulations determining the physical shape and the
quality of urban environment
2. Intervening strategies in urban fabrics.

7. The role of land use planning in disaster risk reduction
The executive regulations determining the physical shape and the quality
of urban environment
The construction in a city is conducted based on the determined regulations.
In general, the peculiar qualities and characteristics of urbanism are
regulations which determine different physical and quality-related aspects of
the city environment. These regulations may include one or more of the
aspects of the urban approach. They include:
Zoning regulations
Land segregation regulations
Building height regulations and density
Observing these regulations and strategies related to location, physical, and
performance factors, it is possible to minimize the physical vulnerability
and fatalities.

8. The role of land use planning in disaster risk reduction
Intervening strategies in urban fabrics.
In fact, the structure of the city along with its texture qualities shapes the
form of a city. Consequently, the intervention strategies in the urban fabrics
are presented in the framework of organizing the urban structure and
renovating or rehabilitating urban fabrics considering the reduction of
vulnerability due to earthquake:
Organizing the urban structure
urban fabric rehabilitation

9. The role of land use planning in disaster risk reduction
Organizing the urban structure
Consideration of land use features such as distribution, adjacency,
compatibility with other urban elements and spaces
Creating hierarchy in urban open spaces
Establishing an efficient communication network against earthquake
Observing the high-risk areas borders and preventing urban sprawl
towards them
It is quite axiomatic that recognition of different quakes, lands prone to
breakage of crust, landslides, land sinking, breakage of surface faults, and
observing the related standards is essential in urban land use planning. In the
following table, the geological factors and the consequences of earthquake
phenomenon have been categorized into four sites with their features and
characteristics.

10. The role of land use planning in disaster risk reduction
Organizing the urban structure
Site Risk Level Characteristics
 Low probability of earth subsidence
A No Risk  Correlation between soil grains
 Existence of Neon and Quaternary layers
B Low Risk  Low subsidence due to the movement of confined fine-grained layer in
alluvial
Moderate subsidence due to the sturdy soft clay
Having liquefaction potential
Moderate Risk
C Low probability of occurrence of rock fall
Sites located at distances up to 300- 500 m from faults
Significant Depression or Different subsidence and weak surface-soil
due to Earth's layers depression because of earthquake waves
Geological displacement effects
D High Risk Earth Severe shock because of Earthquake waves
Having landslides potential
Having rock-fall potential
Having liquefaction potential

11. The role of land use planning in disaster risk reduction
urban fabric rehabilitation
Aggregation of land lots:
The problems and issues related to urban districts and lots in inefficient urban fabrics
can be categorized into the following groups:
The pieces of land have a small area, in a way that considering the least open space,
that is the yard, one cannot construct an efficient building in that, in other words, the
land is wasted.
The piece of land does not enjoy proper dimensions, particularly the façade
dimension.
More importantly, the lot is not capable of correcting the route and there would be
unused space.
The lots have inappropriate conditions with regard to topographic, and position
issues, and inappropriate length makes access difficult for them.
Renovation of Old Textures:
Among important factor which exacerbate the destruction in an earthquake is the old
land uses. These need to be recognized and renovated.

12. The role of land use planning in disaster risk reduction
conclusion
The most important problem in land use planning for disaster risk reduction
is the determination of the appropriate criteria. For the determination of a
range for the relevant criteria, identification of all effective criteria such as
social, cultural, geographical, political and economical criteria are necessary.
Lack of attention to any of these criteria may lead to the failure of the
planning. In this research the necessary criteria for the promotion of
quantitative and qualitative land-use planning to confront the negative effects
of natural disasters are presented. The effective factors in making the land
use plan strategic include the executive regulations determining the physical
shape and the quality of urban environment and Intervening strategies in
urban fabrics. Results showed that for efficient land use planning considering
all factors and strategies which are discussed are necessary.
Also results showed land use planning is potentially powerful mitigation tool
as it seeks to mitigate the risks and vulnerability from several geological and
other hazards.

13. The role of land use planning in disaster risk reduction
The End
Thank you for your
attention