Since the 1970s, advances in telecommunication technologies and transportation systems, along with the deregulation of markets have produced a high intensity of capital mobility and facilitated the formation of a “global” and “informational” (Castells 1996) economy, leading to social and spatial changes in cities and regions throughout the world.
This presentation will portray the socio-economic and spatial changes resulting from the new global economy and their relation to vulnerability from natural disasters. Its focus will be on the exploration of the increased conditions of inter-regional and intra-urban poverty and inequality, directly or indirectly related to the new world order and economy, and their relation to vulnerability form natural disasters, during the time period from the late 1970s to the early 2000s. The presentation will start with explaining the research design and methodology applied. The presentation will then continue with exploring the following impacts of the new global economy and its relation to disaster vulnerability: a) inter-regional polarization and inequality, b) changes in the urban form and inter-urban inequality, and c) informational and technological changes and disasters. The presentation will conclude with assessing the results of this study, and discussing what they suggest to the relationship between globalization and vulnerability from natural disasters.