Basic Report

Society today is exposed to various risks, such as climate change, environmental pollution, terrorism, and large-scale infectious diseases that affect people, organizations, and society in general. In the case of natural disasters, the scale and intensity result in serious damage. Especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, people responded to such a disaster with anxiety and fear, being contemporary.
   Therefore, it is necessary to put on efforts to diagnose and strengthen the capacity of disaster management, in other words, capacities to undertake disaster risk reduction and resilience-building actions of the state or local governments since human casualties and economic losses are heavily determined by such capacities.
   To this end, we measured and compared the levels of resilience of 226 basic local governments at two different times, 2010 and 2020, respectively. Through analyzing cases of local governments who have implemented key programs and policies to improve their disaster management capacities, implications for practices and suggestions to improve such capacities, are discussed.
   In Chapter 2, we examined the general impacts of Covid-19 on our society and its prospects. In particular, we explored the measures employed by the city governments to both prevent and respond to such infectious diseases. In the literature review, we also examined the concept and characteristics of resilience, its key components, and the indicator system.
   In the post-COVID-19 era, it is believed that the active role of local governments is necessary because it is required to prevent epidemics and develop response capabilities to mitigate pandemic situations. It has been found that local governments have been establishing and implementing strategies to improve their mid-to-long term resilience capacities as an extension of existing sustainable urban management strategies.
   In addition, it was difficult to define resilience operatively due to the conceptual ambiguity inherent in resilience itself. Although differences of opinion in resilience definition as well as its dimensions still exist, through the review of the resilience literature, it is defined as the ability to absorb the damage from shock and the ability to recover from shock, at least with one of these two as the core.
   Chapter 3 empirically analyzed how much the Korean local governments were practically capable of responding to and overcoming various risks inherent in society in general and how such capacities have changed.
   From the literature review, different resilience dimensions and the indicators to assess them have been extracted. Resilience dimensions are composed of three constituent dimensions, including social, economic, and urban infrastructure sectors. Then, the final 18 indicators were derived from 41 candidate indicators, and standardization and weight were applied to calculate the resilience index for each sector as well as the combined regional resilience index. Finally, the differences between the two-time points of 2010 and 2020 were compared and analyzed.
   In the case of regional resilience that combines the three sectors, it was confirmed that the larger the size of the city, such as the metropolitan cities and large local central cities, the higher the level of resilience against various accidents and disasters.
   Chapter 4 examined the institutional foundations such as related laws and ordinances, initiatives, programs, and implementation systems for selected regions for case study, including Wanju-gun, Tongyeong-si, and Incheon metropolitan cities, focusing on their social, economic, and urban infrastructure sectors, and drew implications.
   First, most of the discussionson resilience in Korea were addressed, focusing on its disaster management policies despite the diversity in their implementation systems and priorities as we have examined their system with consideration of social, economic, and urban infrastructure sectors.
   Second, due to these limitations in the policy area of regional resilience, the main success factor proposed by global communities to create a resilient city was centered on the establishment and operation of a cooperative promotion system, that is, the governance system as well as its operation.
   Finally, from the policy perspective on regional resilience, when evaluating and using the regional resilience index and its diagnostic results, it is necessary to review and consider its three different dimensions, social, economic, and urban sectors, separately, as well as its combined, comprehensive aspects in order to derive policy implications.
   Chapter 5 presented a guideline and response strategies to strengthen the resilience levels of local governments. Implementation strategies for three different sectors were suggested, including strengthening the capacity of the local community, creating a sustainable regional economic structure, and expanding urban infrastructure to respond to future risks. In order to strengthen the capacity of the community in the social sector, it is necessary to prepare detailed implementation plans and strategies and secure institutional support at the central government level. Itis also suggested to implement residents’ capacity-building efforts and strengthen the human capital of local governments regarding disaster and safety management.
   Moreover, to create a sustainable regional economic structure in the economic sector, it is important to establish policy guidelines for regional economic recovery at the metropolitan government level. It is crucial that necessary countermeasures by understanding the economic flows in the regions with low economic resilience are adopted and, at the same time, continuously prepare customized job policies for the elderly and younger generations, who were found to be the most vulnerable in the local job market after COVID-19.
   In order to expand urban infrastructure to respond to future risks in the urban infrastructure sector, it is necessary to expand various facilities used for preventing disasters and reducing damages. To build a safe urban environment, it is essential to consider urban restructuring such that it establishes a low-density urban environment, rather than pursuing existing high-density and complex development-oriented policies.
   Finally, to implement strategies for improving resilience, it is proposed to lay an institutional foundation for establishing an organic cooperative system between related departments and agencies.