Appropriation of Disaster Risk Reduction in Brazil …
7
3 Appropriation of Regulations and Guidelines
by Municipal Urban Administration
Law 12.608/2012 starts to introduce guidelines focused on urban management,
proposing actions linking urban planning and risk management. The study of the
connection between both stakeholders involved—municipal administration (urban
planning departments) and Civil Defense municipal authorities—can enhance the
recent concept of risk management prevention and preparation, taking into consideration the appropriation and experiences between entities that started to influence
urban spatial dynamics.
The relations established among entities, mainly the ones related to regulations
and guidelines, involve the concept of circulation of ideas, that means, they are
related to the ability to appropriate new concepts by two administrative bodies: The
Municipal Coordination of Civil Defense and Protection (MCDP) and the municipal
departments responsible for urban planning decisions. About this process of circulation, Ultramari and Duarte (2012) discuss how unique ideas are able to be reproduced
and connect to new contexts, suffering adaptations or transformations.
The ideas transference theme is quite new in the Brazilian academic research
circles, however, this discussion is not a novelty for urban planning and public
administration (Ultramari and Cantarim 2016). It is possible to notice the need
for understanding how guidelines from specific contexts and from specific policy
makers are transmitted and appropriated in different absorption rhythms, scales and
temporalities (Haley and Upton 2010).
According to Ultramari and Cantarim (2016), ideas transference is a complex
process in urban topics, which involves a set of stakeholders and also places. It is
perceived that the processes of creation and communication of ideas are developed
in a linear way but it is completely intangible and difficult to analyse. The scenario
of its creation and the scenario of its application influence the way the idea moves;
as a result, it should be observed carefully. Howlet and Morgan (2001) add that the
circulation of ideas starts when practices and experiences are shared.
Furthermore, the appropriation of ideas can be the result of interactions between
experts with a common interest. Haley and Upton (2010), describing experiences
about the circulation of ideas in urban planning, discuss the possibilities (or the
consequences) of the introduction of a specific idea in a new context. The authors
point that the movement/interaction of ideas in urban planning is constant, despite
the fact that adaptation and implementation processes are not always clear. The path
of that idea can inspire the creation of new potentials. According to the authors:
The challenge for critical planning action, committed to the moral attitudes […] is to work out
how to create greater momentum for improving urban conditions throughout this complex
interplay of exogenous and endogenous forces. Harnessing the potential of this interplay
requires continual attention to the specific dynamics of structure influences, local agency,
and culture and institutions. (Haley and Upton 2010, p. 32)
In the same way, ideas—or the way they circulate and the way the are implemented—can reduce or increase positive and negative points in the mechanism a
7
3 Appropriation of Regulations and Guidelines
by Municipal Urban Administration
Law 12.608/2012 starts to introduce guidelines focused on urban management,
proposing actions linking urban planning and risk management. The study of the
connection between both stakeholders involved—municipal administration (urban
planning departments) and Civil Defense municipal authorities—can enhance the
recent concept of risk management prevention and preparation, taking into consideration the appropriation and experiences between entities that started to influence
urban spatial dynamics.
The relations established among entities, mainly the ones related to regulations
and guidelines, involve the concept of circulation of ideas, that means, they are
related to the ability to appropriate new concepts by two administrative bodies: The
Municipal Coordination of Civil Defense and Protection (MCDP) and the municipal
departments responsible for urban planning decisions. About this process of circulation, Ultramari and Duarte (2012) discuss how unique ideas are able to be reproduced
and connect to new contexts, suffering adaptations or transformations.
The ideas transference theme is quite new in the Brazilian academic research
circles, however, this discussion is not a novelty for urban planning and public
administration (Ultramari and Cantarim 2016). It is possible to notice the need
for understanding how guidelines from specific contexts and from specific policy
makers are transmitted and appropriated in different absorption rhythms, scales and
temporalities (Haley and Upton 2010).
According to Ultramari and Cantarim (2016), ideas transference is a complex
process in urban topics, which involves a set of stakeholders and also places. It is
perceived that the processes of creation and communication of ideas are developed
in a linear way but it is completely intangible and difficult to analyse. The scenario
of its creation and the scenario of its application influence the way the idea moves;
as a result, it should be observed carefully. Howlet and Morgan (2001) add that the
circulation of ideas starts when practices and experiences are shared.
Furthermore, the appropriation of ideas can be the result of interactions between
experts with a common interest. Haley and Upton (2010), describing experiences
about the circulation of ideas in urban planning, discuss the possibilities (or the
consequences) of the introduction of a specific idea in a new context. The authors
point that the movement/interaction of ideas in urban planning is constant, despite
the fact that adaptation and implementation processes are not always clear. The path
of that idea can inspire the creation of new potentials. According to the authors:
The challenge for critical planning action, committed to the moral attitudes […] is to work out
how to create greater momentum for improving urban conditions throughout this complex
interplay of exogenous and endogenous forces. Harnessing the potential of this interplay
requires continual attention to the specific dynamics of structure influences, local agency,
and culture and institutions. (Haley and Upton 2010, p. 32)
In the same way, ideas—or the way they circulate and the way the are implemented—can reduce or increase positive and negative points in the mechanism a