James Kendra to Åre Risk Event – about crises as an enabler
How can crises become a driving force for renewal? When the Åre Risk Event is arranged in April, disaster researcher James Kendra will be one of the main speakers.
Based on this year's theme "Between hope and despair - crisis as a driving force", he talks about the crisis as both a threat and an opportunity. James Kendra is a professor at the University of Delaware and co-director of the Disaster Research Center (DRC), the world's oldest research center focusing on the social and organizational dimensions of disasters. During the autumn, he visited Mid Sweden University and RCR in Östersund to deepen the collaboration in risk and crisis research.
"Many opportunities for future cooperation emerged, including in infrastructure adaptation, the role of civil society in disaster response and coordination between different actors in crises. The possibilities of the simulation lab are limitless.
Emergence in disasters
In her research, Kendra has long been interested in improvisation and emerging networks in disasters. A key message is that full coordination in major societal crises is not realistic.
"We emphasized that full coordination of resources is an unattainable goal in large societal disasters, and that much of the necessary work takes place in a fragmented and organic way, as people build new networks and improvise together.
Highlights that crises can create conditions
Ahead of the Åre Risk Event, he emphasizes that crises, despite their serious nature, can also create conditions for development.
"It's a provocative concept; the idea that crises can stimulate growth, renewal and positive change.
If the creativity and flexibility that arises in crisis management is utilized, more resilient systems can emerge.
"If the positive effects of the creativity and flexibility that come with crisis management can be preserved, it may be possible to build new and more resilient systems.
When he lectures on 21 April, it is with a message that moves between realism and hope, and that challenges the view of what a crisis can actually lead to.
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