Reinterpreting disasters and urban resilience in the Anthropocene: Disaster management or transforming with disasters?

There is increasing scientific evidence of the link between the changes resulting from human activities on the planet and the increase in the frequency and severity of disasters. In the face of this change, geologists warn that the stable conditions of the Holocene are behind us and that humanity is entering a new geological epoch—the Anthropocene—whose parameters are uncertain and unpredictable. The Anthropocene changes the context in which disasters occur and operate. This has important implications for disaster studies. First of all, disasters need to be reinterpreted within the changing and unpredictable conditions of the Anthropocene. This study aims to reinterpret disasters from the perspective of Anthropocene and discuss its implications for disaster policies. The Anthropocene brings many aspects such as the expansion of time and space horizons, uncertainty in cause-effect relationships, cascading effects, and unpredictable acceleration to the agenda in reinterpreting disasters. These new features of disasters render disaster management a contentious claim. It doesn’t seem possible to manage, control or prepare for disasters under the conditions imposed by the Anthropocene. Instead, it seems a more reasonable option to focus on policies that will increase the resilience of societies by transforming socio-ecological systems by utilizing the potential of disasters to trigger new beginnings.