This course examines how hazards are managed by both community and national-level policymaking and administrative systems, with a particular focus on understanding how policies and management practices are related to risk reduction and resilience capacity promotion. The course explores what governance means in practice and presents existing research, including policy reports, cases studies and quantitative analyses of community-level and national-level hazards management programs and related public policies—and how their integration is relevant to hazards governance. There is an emphasis on understanding the nature of public goods production processes, including how inter-sector integration (i.e. between, public, private and nonprofit organizations) and extant community vulnerability profiles matter to the specific risk reduction efforts, and what those same efforts yield in terms of aggregate community resilience outcomes.

This courses will be taught by Arizona State University as part of the PLuS Alliance. The course will be taught fully online. 

The learning outcomes that students should achieve upon successful completion of this course. 

1. Define and understand the foundational concepts and key practice elements of managing hazards in communities;
2. Identify how both a range of natural and technological hazards pose variable levels of risks communities;
3. Identify, define and understand the public sector programs and administrative processes designed to manage hazards in order to reduce risk and promote community resilience;
4. Identify and understand the nature of public goods “production: processes and how those systems may or may not be integrated in hazards risk reduction and resilience promotion;
5. Assess the critical nature of inter-sector integration in public policies and programs designed at managing community hazards;
6. Evaluate and assess community-level program efforts aimed at hazards risk reduction and community resilience promotion;
7. Produce and communicate analysis of hazards governance mechanisms and their relative effectiveness in support risk reduction and resilience goals.

This course is being taught by Arizona State University (ASU), and will be offered to UNSW students. The course will be offered solely online, and utilise the internationally renowned online educational systems of ASU.

Assessment Task 1 - Short Assessment Essays
Weighting: 25%
Length: n/a

Assessment Task 2 - Online Discussions
Weighting: 25%
Occurrence: n/a

Assessment Task 3 - Program or Policy Paper Essay
Weighting: 25%
Length: n/a

Assessment Task 4 - Final Exam
Weighting: 25%
Duration: n/a