Community integration and participation to improve the built environment of the Post-Disaster Involuntary Relocations

Disasters sometimes alter the topography of the land and make them unsuitable for human habitation.
Consequently, the communities who live in those lands need to be relocated in favour of or against their will by the government or relevant authorities in order to safeguard them against future risks. Generally, involuntary relocations aim at improving the lives of the people. However, it may affect people in a negative way, even though their physical assets have been totally recompensed.
Consequences of involuntary relocations have an effect on both displaced community and host community. These consequences can be approached through different standpoints, such as economic, social, cultural, and psychological consequences. This paper aims at addressing this issue in the perspective of built environment and identifying different boundary objects that could communicate among different parties to improve community participation and collaboration. This study was conducted through a comprehensive literature review to investigate the built environment related challenges and obstacles faced by the communities during involuntary relocations.
Number of studies provide evidence to the effect that the incompatible integration of communities that have been built upon different social settings and physical aspects could act as stressors in the recovery process. For example, physical infrastructure will be shared by the new community with the host community which was not actually planned to serve two communities. In addition to this, quality of housing, availability of communal space, location, and resources related issues also could slow the process of recovery. Therefore, these aspects need to be drawn upon in planning and implementation of involuntary relocation projects.