Bridging the divide between studies on disaster risk reduction education and child-centred disaster risk reduction: a critical review

There has been a recent increase in the body of knowledge related to children and disasters. These studies converge into three main fields of research: the impact of disasters on children and their psychological recovery, the integration of disaster risk reduction (DRR) into the education sectors and children’s participation in DRR. This article provides a literature review of the two latter fields of research where the focus is on reducing disaster losses and building resilience prior to a disaster. Overall, 48 studies are critically reviewed and compared in relation to the strengths and weaknesses of their aims, methods, locations of research, impact, and outcomes. The review identified a number of differences between the two fields and significant opportunities for linking the two approaches, sharing lessons and knowledge. Based on the review, recommendations for further research are outlined.     

L’impossible constitution d’une théorie générale des machines ?

Three projects on the theories of machines are presented: “mecanology” of the architect Jacques Laffite (1932) inspired by biological evolution; “mecanical analysis ” of Louis Couffignal, a specialist in computing machines (1938), which pre figures functional analysis, and the algebraic theory of machines by the mathematician Jacques Riguet (beginning of the 1950’s). During those years, the three men are members of the Circle of Cybernetic Studies. The article focuses on the dialogue between projects, the axes of unification and divergence, and the styles, strategies and postulates of these three candidates, for generalization converging toward the reference constituted by cybernetics.     

Book reviews

Economies of Signs & Space. Scott Lash and John Urry, London, Sage Publications, 1994, IV + 360 pp, £45.00 hb, ISBN 0 8039 8471 5; £13.95 pb, ISBN 0 8039 8472 3

Housing Policy in Action: The New Financial Regime for Council Housing. Peter Malpass, Matthew Warburton, Glen Bramley and Gavin Smart, SAUS Study 8, School for Advanced Urban Studies, University of Bristol, 1993, pp. XV+ 115, £9.75, ISBN 1 873575 47 5

Glasgow: The Forming of a City. Peter Reed (Ed.), Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, V+ 233 pp., £25.00, ISBN 0 7486 0246 1

Urban Land and Property Markets in Germany, European Land and Property Markets 2. H. Dietrich, E. Dransfeld and W. Voss, London, UCL Press, 288 pp, £40.00, ISBN 1 85728 049 0

The Politics of Local Economic Policy: Problems and Possibilities of Local Initiative. Aram Eisenschitz and Jamie Gough, London, Macmillan 1993, XIV + 309 pp, £14.99 pb, ISBN 0 33352 175 7

Planning at the Crossroads. James Simmie, London: UCL Press, 1993, 208 pp, £35.00, ISBN 1 85728 024 5, hb; 1 85728 025 3, pb; £12.95

The Political Culture of Planning: American Land Use Planning in a Comparative Perspective. J. Barry Cullingworth, New York and London, Routledge, 1993, XVII – 350 pp, £45.00, ISBN 0 415 08812 7, hb