Impact of spatial planning for the cost and value optimization in built environment against natural hazards

Abstract

Spatial planning is managing the environmental, social and economic dimensions of development. Today the built environment suffers from a lot of natural hazards, resulted due to poor concentration over the environmental, social and economic aspects. Magnitudes and frequencies of these natural hazards has shifted from bad to worst in the recent past. Therefore, economic cost of these hazards has increased, and governments has been compelled to spend large amounts of public money to overcome these impacts on the built environment. Thus, in Sri Lankan context, these circumstances warrant the need to have a sustainable and realistic approach for the spatial planning in the built environment. Hence, the aim of this research was to enhance the cost and value efficiency in built environment against natural hazards through proper spatial planning in Sri Lankan context. Research was conducted mainly based on a questionnaire survey following the mixed research approach. Study identified the impact of poor spatial planning in the built environment in Sri Lankan context and study imparted set of guidelines to ensure effective spatial planning in the built environment in order to minimize the impact of adverse natural hazards. Finally, study concluded that, in order to establish a paradigm shift emphasizing the importance of effective spatial planning in the built environment, it is essential to have a clear understanding on natural process and other socio-economic concerns of the country.