Building Codes

Abstract Disaster management policies, often technocratic in scope and imagination, are characterized by a strong emphasis on physical vulnerability reduction through the adoption of stronger building codes, development regulations and land use planning methods like zoning and subdivision regulations. However, effectiveness of such measures in reducing disaster vulnerability depends on both the enforcement mechanism and the social, economic, political and cultural contexts within which such measures are operationalized. Through a detailed analysis of one such regulatory measure, building codes, this paper suggests that despite the criticisms of increased costs, prescriptive nature, non-participatory code-making process and other administrative hurdles associated with building codes, they could be modified to address such issues in innovative ways. This requires further exploration of performance-based building codes, institutional framework to ensure democratic and participatory code-making process and above all conscious efforts at the policy level to bridge the gap between technical expertise and experiential knowledge in order to enhance the role of building codes in reducing the vulnerability of urban areas.