Kapucu, N. (2012). Disaster and emergency management systems in urban areas.Cities.

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Kapucu, N. (2012). Disaster and emergency management systems in urban areas. Cities, 29(Supplement 1), S41-S49. Retrieved from https://journals.scholarsportal.info/details/02642751/v29inone_s1/s41_daemsiua.xml

Review by Ben Blanchard

This short article focuses on the delivery of emergency management systems in urban/metropolitan areas. Its main focus is highlighted within the abstract as “the multifacteded inter-organizational relationships producing shared goals that are practiced at the local level, and specifically within the context of county-level metropolitan emergency management”(p. 41). the articles aspires to provide an understanding of emergency management systems at the urban level using the Orlando metropolitan area in the state of Florida as an example. The abstract functions well to illustrate the main focus and purpose behind the article in a clear and concise manner.

Beginning with providing some important background on the topic, Kapucu starts off by providing an explanation for the term 'governance' which it highlights as one of the main tools for to address complex and multi-faceted soceital issues(p. 42). Kapucu defines governance as the “management of networks are formed and maintained to solve complex problems”(p. 42). governance networks are highlighted as an important tool in order to solve problems and reach organizational goals, collaboration between organizations in governance is also important in achieving goals. He simplifies to the collaboration as “activities directed towards the achievement of common goals”. Drawing from research by Feiok(2004), Ahrens and Rudolph it is argues that governance should be applied across all governmental levels and effective disaster management is possible through the implementation of elements of governance such as accountability, participation, predictability and transparency. Next Kapucu describes emergency management as a “historically collaborative”(S42). Citing the September 11 attacks as demonstrating the inherent limitations of governments in emergency management. He also highlights the differences between rural and urban environment in terms of resources and knowledge in the administration of emergency management, stating that in urban environments “additional attention and a denser set of relationships between stakeholders of the emergency mechanism, more in depth analysis of conditions before, during and after a disaster, and creates further complications in the decision making mechanism”(p. 42).

Following a short literature review is provided where Kapucu cites several different scholars contributions to the field of emergency management studies. These scholars include Comfot(2002) who examined emergency management systems through the lens of complex adaptive systems, where effective information sharing is highlighted as critical for sefl-organizaing groups. Mushkatel and Weschler(1985) argue that the governance of emergency management should be shared across different levels of the government and among different sectors. While Andrew(2009) argued that inter-organizational networked governance is mostly the function of the characteristics or service and goods sought to be collaboratively delivered. Waugh and Streig(2006) argued that governance in emergency management relies heavily on local capacity, emphasizing the role of communities and agency. Overall all these studies highlight the need for effective communication in emergency management setting and the need for collaboration between both private and public organizations. It is also claimed that these relationships are only effective only if the local capacity is strong and developed(p. 43). the literature provides crucial context to the very narrow field that Kapucu is examining within this article.

Next Kapucu examines recent trends within the collaborative emergency management. That can largely be attributed to policy reform carried out by the federal government such as the creation of the Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA) in 1979. Starting with the creation of the Federal Response Plan in 1992 that was a “national design that described how the federal government would act to support state and local efforts”(p. 44). this was eventually replaced by the National Response Plan(NRP) in 2004 due to problems experienced during the response to the 9/11 terrorists attacks. The national response framework(NRF) was created in 2008 after hurricane Katrina(2006) highlighted deficiencies in the old system. Lastly Kapucu focuses on the emergency management systems in the Orlando Metropolitan area as an example to describe how a metropolitan emergency management systems functions under governance. He notes how the American system is mostly effective at the lower level due to its flexibility and therefore should only be applied in that context. In his conclusion he highlights the need to apply and strengthen government characteristics in the context of urban/metropolitan emergency management. It should also be noted that these development in emergency management only pertain to the United States and therefore should not serve as a basis for the development of emergency management worldwide.

The articles is effective in in carrying out what it set out to accomplish, it provides an introduction and definition to the concept of governance and its relation to emergency management. Also providing a brief overview on existing literature within the field of metropolitan emergency management and an example of emergence management within the Orlando region to give a sense of how it function in a real life scenario. However it should also be noted that the focus of this article is rather limited, only focusing on emergency management within an urban/metropolitan setting and only looking at the application of emergency management within the city of Orlando significantly reduces the application of this article to other areas of emergency management.