Have a personal or library account? Click to login
Reframing disaster recovery through spatial justice: an integrated framework Cover

Reframing disaster recovery through spatial justice: an integrated framework

Open Access
|Feb 2026

References

  1. Aijazi, O. (2015). Theorizing a social repair orientation to disaster recovery: Developing insights for disaster recovery policy and programming. Global Social Welfare, 2(1), 1528. 10.1007/s40609-014-0013-x
  2. Alexander, D. E. (2019). L’Aquila, central Italy, and the ‘disaster cycle’, 2009–2017. Disaster Prevention and Management, 28(2), 272285. 10.1108/DPM-01-2018-0022
  3. Arrighi, G. (1978). Towards a theory of capitalist crisis. New Left Review, 111(3), 324. https://newleftreview.org/issues/i111/articles/giovanni-arrighi-towards-a-theory-of-capitalist-crisis.pdf
  4. Aydin, N. Y., Celik, K., Gecen, R., Kalaycioglu, S., & Duzgun, S. (2025). Rebuilding Antakya: Cultivating urban resilience through cultural identity and education for post-disaster reconstruction in Turkey. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 117, 105196. 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2025.105196
  5. Baniya, J. (2022). Transnational assemblages in disaster response: The case of the 2015 Nepal earthquake. Global Networks, 22(2), 326341. 10.1111/glob.12345
  6. Becker, S. L., & Reusser, D. E. (2016). Disasters as opportunities for social change: Using the multi-level perspective to consider the barriers to disaster-related transitions. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 18, 7588. 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2016.05.005
  7. Birkmann, J., Buckle, P., Jaeger, J., Pelling, M., Setiadi, N., Garschagen, M., … Kropp, J. (2010). Extreme events and disasters: A window of opportunity for change? Analysis of organizational, institutional and political changes, formal and informal responses after mega-disasters. Natural Hazards, 55, 637655. 10.1007/s11069-008-9319-2
  8. Borie, M., & Fraser, A. (2023). The politics of expertise in building back better: Contrasting the coproduction of reconstruction post-Irma in the Dutch and French Caribbean. Geoforum, 145, 103813. 10.1016/j.geoforum.2023.103813
  9. Brown, M. B. (2009). Science in Democracy: Expertise, Institutions, and Representation. MIT Press.
  10. Cretney, R. (2019). ‘An opportunity to hope and dream’: Disaster politics and the emergence of possibility through community-led recovery. Antipode, 51(2), 497516. 10.1111/anti.12431
  11. Cretney, R., & Bond, S. (2014). ‘Bouncing back’ to capitalism? Grass-roots autonomous activism in shaping discourses of resilience and transformation following disaster. Resilience, 2(1), 1831. 10.1080/21693293.2013.872449
  12. Cretney, R. M. (2017). Towards a critical geography of disaster recovery politics: Perspectives on crisis and hope. Geography Compass, 11(1), e12302. 10.1111/gec3.12302
  13. Douglass, M., & Miller, M. A. (2018). Disaster justice in Asia’s urbanising Anthropocene. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 1(3), 271287. 10.1177/2514848618797333
  14. Eda, H. (2015). Disaster justice: Mobilising grassroots knowledge against disaster nationalism in Japan. In Jolivette, A. J. (Ed.), Research justice: Methodologies for social change (pp. 95106). Policy Press.
  15. Emrich, C., Tate, E., Larson, S., & Zhou, Y. (2020). Measuring social equity in flood recovery funding. Environmental Hazards—Human and Policy Dimensions, 19(3), 228250. 10.1080/17477891.2019.1675578
  16. Ewenson, L. (2024). Learning from disaster inquiries and other reporting: How top-down responses erode community recovery. Alternative Law Journal, 49(4). 10.1177/1037969X241291638
  17. Ezrahi, Y. (1990). The descent of Icarus: Science and the transformation of contemporary democracy. Harvard University Press.
  18. Fan, L. (2012). Shelter strategies, humanitarian praxis and critical urban theory in post-crisis reconstruction. Disasters, 36(s1), S64S86. https://media.odi.org/documents/8693.pdf
  19. Fan, L. (2013). Disaster as opportunity? Building back better in Aceh, Myanmar and Haiti (Humanitarian Policy Group Working Paper). Overseas Development Institute. https://media.odi.org/documents/8693.pdf
  20. Fraser, N. (2003). Social justice in the age of identity politics: Redistribution, recognition and participation. In Fraser, N., & Honneth, A. (Eds.), Redistribution or recognition? A political–philosophical exchange (pp. 7109). Verso.
  21. Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Continuum.
  22. Fuentealba, R., & Verrest, H. (2020). Disrupting risk governance? A post-disaster politics of inclusion in the urban margins. Urban Planning, 5(3), 274287. 10.17645/up.v5i3.3210
  23. García, I., & Hernandez, N. (2023). ‘They’re just trying to survive’: The relationship between social vulnerability, informal housing, and environmental risks in Loíza, Puerto Rico, USA. World Development Sustainability, 2. 10.1016/j.wds.2023.100062
  24. Gonçalves, J., Narendra, N., & Verma, T. (2025). Everything about climate change is disproportionate: Principles for spatial justice in urban climate action. Geo: Geography and Environment. 10.1002/geo2.70024
  25. Gotham, K. F. (2015). Limitations, legacies, and lessons: Post-Katrina rebuilding in retrospect and prospect. American Behavioral Scientist, 59(10), 13141326. 10.1177/0002764215591186
  26. Graham, L., Debucquoy, W., & Anguelovski, I. (2016). The influence of urban development dynamics on community resilience practice in New York City after Superstorm Sandy: Experiences from the Lower East Side and the Rockaways. Global Environmental Change—Human and Policy Dimensions, 40, 112124. 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2016.07.001
  27. Gray, S. (2023). Rethinking disaster utopia: The limits of conspicuous resilience for community-based recovery and adaptation. Disasters, 47(3), 608629. 10.1111/disa.12567
  28. Hale, R., Stewart-North, M., & Harkness, A. (2021). Post-disaster access to justice: The road ahead for Australian rural communities. In Hale, R., Stewart-North, M., & Harkness, A. (Eds.), Crossroads of rural crime: Representations and realities of transgression in the Australian countrys (pp. 167179). Emerald. 10.1108/978-1-80043-644-220211012
  29. Hayward, R. A., Morris, Z., Otero Ramos, Y., & Silva Díaz, A. (2019). ‘Todo ha sido a pulmón’: Community organizing after disaster in Puerto Rico. Journal of Community Practice, 27(3–4), 249259. 10.1080/10705422.2019.1649776
  30. Holtz, G., Brugnach, M., & Pahl-Wostl, C. (2008). Specifying ‘regime’—A framework for defining and describing regimes in transition research. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 75(5), 623643. 10.1016/j.techfore.2007.02.010
  31. Jerolleman, A. (2019). Disaster recovery through the lens of justice. Springer. 10.1007/978-3-030-04795-5
  32. Jones, M., & Ward, K. (2012). Excavating the logic of British urban policy: Neoliberalism as the ‘crisis of crisis management’. In Brenner, N., & Theodore, N. (Eds.), Spaces of neoliberalism (pp. 126147). Wiley.
  33. Joseph, J., Irshad, S. M., & Alex, A. M. (2021). Disaster recovery and structural inequalities: A case study of community assertion for justice. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 66. 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102555
  34. Kates, R. W., Colten, C. E., Laska, S., & Leatherman, S. P. (2006). Reconstruction of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina: A research perspective. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 103(40), 1465314660. 10.1073/pnas.0605726103
  35. Kato, Y., Passidomo, C., & Harvey, D. (2014). Political gardening in a post-disaster city: Lessons from New Orleans. Urban Studies, 51(9), 18331849. 10.1177/0042098013504143
  36. Kennedy, J., Ashmore, J., Babister, E., & Kelman, I. (2008). The meaning of ‘build back better’: Evidence from post-tsunami Aceh and Sri Lanka. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 16(1), 2436. 10.1111/j.1468-5973.2008.00529.x
  37. Klein, N. (2007). The shock doctrine: The rise of disaster capitalism. Metropolitan.
  38. Knox-Hayes, J., Agarwal, S., Arango-Quiroga, J., Ashford, N., Birge, D., Carolini, G., … Winer-Chan, R. (2025). The equitable resilience framework: An environmental justice strategy for community-led resilience planning. World Development Perspectives, 40, 100738. 10.1016/j.wdp.2025.100738
  39. Ku, H. B., & Dominelli, L. (2018). Not only eating together: Space and green social work intervention in a hazard-affected area in Ya’an, Sichuan of China. British Journal of Social Work, 48(5), 14091431. 10.1093/bjsw/bcx071
  40. Kuus, M. (2013). Geopolitics and expertise: Knowledge and authority in European diplomacy. Wiley.
  41. Labadie, J. R. (2008). Auditing of post-disaster recovery and reconstruction activities. Disaster Prevention and Management, 17(5), 575586. 10.1108/09653560810918612
  42. Lamb, Z. B., & Vale, L. J. (2024). The equitably resilient city: Solidarities and struggles in the face of climate crisis. MIT Press.
  43. Lewis, J. A., Zipperer, W. C., Ernstson, H., Bernik, B., Hazen, R., Elmqvist, T., & Blum, M. J. (2017). Socioecological disparities in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Ecosphere, 8(9). 10.1002/ecs2.1922
  44. Low, S. (2022). The search for a social justice and public space framework: The case of older adults in New York City during Covid-19. In Goh, K., Loukaitou-Sideris, A., & Mukhija, V. (Eds.), Just urban design: The struggle for a public city (pp. 4766). MIT Press. 10.7551/mitpress/13982.001.0001
  45. Lukasiewicz, A., & Baldwin, C. (2020). Natural hazards and disaster justice: Challenges for Australia and its neighbours. Springer Singapore. 10.1007/978-981-15-0466-2
  46. Lyons, M. (2009). Building back better: The large-scale impact of small-scale approaches to reconstruction. World Development, 37(2), 385398. 10.1016/j.worlddev.2008.01.006
  47. Meerow, S., Pajouhesh, P., & Miller, T. R. (2019). Social equity in urban resilience planning. Local Environment, 24(9), 793808. 10.1080/13549839.2019.1645103
  48. Miller, L. M. (2012). Controlling disasters: Recognising latent goals after Hurricane Katrina. Disasters, 36(1), 122139. 10.1111/j.1467-7717.2011.01244.x
  49. Morello-Frosch, R., Brown, P., Lyson, M., Cohen, A., & Krupa, K. (2011). Community voice, vision, and resilience in post-Hurricane Katrina recovery. Environmental Justice, 4(1), 7180. 10.1089/env.2010.0029
  50. Muñoz, C. E., & Tate, E. (2016). Unequal recovery? Federal resource distribution after a Midwest flood disaster. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 13(5). 10.3390/ijerph13050507
  51. Nalla, V., Ranjit, N., & Jain, G. (2021). Representations of disaster recovery needs: A study of legal frameworks and litigation in Odisha. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 57. 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102163
  52. Nance, E. (2018). Making the case for community-based laboratories: A new strategy for environmental justice. Bullard, R. D. (Ed.), Race, place, and environmental justice after Hurricane. Katrina: Struggles to reclaim, rebuild, and revitalize New Orleans and the Gulf Coast (pp. 153167). Taylor & Francis. 10.4324/9780429497858
  53. Neal, D. M. (1997). Reconsidering the phases of disaster. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, 15(2), 239264. 10.1177/028072709701500202
  54. Nix-Stevenson, D. (2013). Human response to natural disasters. SAGE Open, 3(3), 113. 10.1177/2158244013489684
  55. Olshansky, R. B., & Johnson, L. A. (2014). The evolution of the federal role in supporting community recovery after U.S. disasters. Journal of the American Planning Association, 80(4), 293304. 10.1080/01944363.2014.967710
  56. Olson, R. (2008). Towards a politics of disaster: Losses, values, agendas, and blame. In A. Boin (Ed.), Crisis Management (Vol. II) (pp. 154170). SAGE.
  57. Paidakaki, A., & Moulaert, F. (2017). Does the post-disaster resilient city really exist?: A critical analysis of the heterogeneous transformative capacities of housing reconstruction ‘resilience cells’. International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, 8(3), 275291. 10.1108/IJDRBE-10-2015-0052
  58. Paidakaki, A., & Parra, C. (2018). ‘Housing for all’ at the era of financialization; Can (post-disaster) cities become truly socially resilient and egalitarian? Local Environment, 23(10), 10231040. 10.1080/13549839.2018.1518416
  59. Perry, K. K. (2024). Epistemic silences, subversive politics: Post-disaster economic assessments as technologies of persistent coloniality and route to an emancipatory climate justice agenda in the Caribbean. Climate and Development, 16(9), 798810. 10.1080/17565529.2024.2370926
  60. Prilleltensky, I. (2014). Meaning-making, mattering, and thriving in community psychology: From co-optation to amelioration and transformation. Psychosocial Intervention, 23(2), 151154. 10.1016/j.psi.2014.07.008
  61. Pyles, L. (2017). Decolonising disaster social work: Environmental justice and community participation. British Journal of Social Work, 47(3), 630647. 10.1093/bjsw/bcw028
  62. Recio, R. B., Alburo-Cañete, K. Z., & Cajilig, P. G. (2023). Disaster justice in Philippine contexts: Revisiting frameworks and interrogating practices. Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints, 71(4), 457466. 10.13185/PS2023.71401
  63. Rendon, C., Osman, K., & Faust, K. (2021). Path towards community resilience: Examining stakeholders? Coordination at the intersection of the built, natural, and social systems. Sustainable Cities and Society, 68. 10.1016/j.scs.2021.102774
  64. Rivera, D. (2022). Disaster Colonialism: A commentary on disasters beyond singular events to structural violence. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 46(1), 126135. 10.1111/1468-2427.12950
  65. Rumbach, A., Makarewicz, C., & Nemeth, J. (2016). The importance of place in early disaster recovery: A case study of the 2013 Colorado floods. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 59(11), 20452063. 10.1080/09640568.2015.1116981
  66. Sandoval, V., Gonzalez-Muzzio, C., & Albornoz, C. (2017). Post-disaster institutional and community responses: Uneven outcomes on environmental justice and resilience in Chaitén, Chile. In Allen, A., Griffin, L., & Johnson, C. (Eds.), Environmental Justice and Urban Resilience in the Global South (pp. 7994). Palgrave Macmillan. 10.1057/978-1-137-47354-7_5
  67. Sandoval, V., & Voss, M. (2016). Disaster governance and vulnerability: The case of Chile. Politics and Governance, 4(4), 107116. 10.17645/pag.v4i4.743
  68. Sherwood, D., VanDeusen, K., Leahy, A., & Diaconu, M. (2024). ‘We’re an escuelita, a little school’: Unsettling disaster relief work in the Caño Martín Peña communities of Puerto Rico. Journal of Community Practice, 32(4), 462485. 10.1080/10705422.2024.2428862
  69. Shrestha, K. K., Bhattarai, B., Ojha, H. R., & Bajracharya, A. (2019). Disaster justice in Nepal’s earthquake recovery. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 33, 207216. 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2018.10.006
  70. Simington, J. (2023). Displaced trust: Disrupting legal estrangement during disaster recovery. Social Forces, 102(2), 771789. 10.1093/sf/soad026
  71. Smith, G. P., & Wenger, D. (2007). Sustainable disaster recovery: Operationalizing an existing agenda. In Rodriguez, H., Quarantelli, E. L., & Dynes, R. R. (Eds.), Handbook of disaster research (pp. 234257). Springer. 10.1007/978-0-387-32353-4_14
  72. Soja, E. (2008). The city and spatial justice. Paper presented at the Conference on Spatial Justice, Nanterre, Paris, France, 12–14 March. https://www.jssj.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/JSSJ1-1en4.pdf
  73. Soja, E. (2010). Seeking spatial justice. University of Minnesota Press.
  74. Sovacool, B. K., Tan-Mullins, M., & Abrahamse, W. (2018). Bloated bodies and broken bricks: Power, ecology, and inequality in the political economy of natural disaster recovery. World Development, 110, 243255. 10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.05.028
  75. Tafti, M. T., & Tomlinson, R. (2019). Theorizing distributive justice and the practice of post-disaster housing recovery. Environmental Hazards, 18(1), 725. 10.1080/17477891.2018.1435406
  76. Thompson, D., & Lopez Barrera, M. S. (2023). Community resilience, governance, and (in)justice in the context of informal housing after an F3 tornado. Local Development and Society, 4(1), 172192. 10.1080/26883597.2022.2082881
  77. Titz, A. (2021). Geographies of doing nothing–internal displacement and practices of post-disaster recovery in urban areas of the Kathmandu valley, Nepal. Social Sciences, 10(3). 10.3390/socsci10030110
  78. Unanue, I., Patel, S. G., Tormala, T. T., Trott, C. D., Rodríguez, A. A. P., Serrano, K. M., & Brown, L. M. (2020). Seeing more clearly: Communities transforming towards justice in post-hurricane Puerto Rico. Community Psychology in Global Perspective, 6(2), 2247. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2021-19632-002
  79. United Nations. (2005). Hyogo framework for action 2005–2015. Building the resilience of nations hand communities to disasters. http://www.unisdr.org/wcdr/intergover/official-doc/L-docs/Hyogo-framework-for-action-english.pdf
  80. Vale, L., & Campanella, T. (2005). The cities rise again. In Vale, L., & Campanella, T. (Eds.), The resilient city: How modern cities recover from disaster (pp. 326). Oxford University Press. 10.1093/oso/9780195175844.001.0001
  81. Vale, L. J. (2014). The politics of resilient cities: Whose resilience and whose city? Building Research & Information, 42(2), 191201. 10.1080/09613218.2014.850602
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/bc.701 | Journal eISSN: 2632-6655
Language: English
Submitted on: Sep 4, 2025
|
Accepted on: Jan 29, 2026
|
Published on: Feb 19, 2026
Published by: Ubiquity Press
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 1 issue per year

© 2026 Mehmet Ali Gasseloğlu, Juliana E. Gonçalves, published by Ubiquity Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.