Challenges for Human Security Engineering

Comprehending how people have battled disasters and environmental destruction is the first step in understanding human security. This chapter discusses this, describes current global threats, and examines the preventative actions taken against such threats on a world-wide basis. Four important points are introduced for securing global human security under the context of real world constraints. They are, (1) matching social infrastructure service levels to needs, (2) awareness by individuals of the importance of self-reliance and ownership, (3) establishment of partnerships among stakeholders, and (4) the implementation of a comprehensive approach toward global security issues and the development of capabilities for addressing them. As they are central to these concerns, the disciplines of traditional civil and environmental engineering are expanded to introduce Human Security Engineering, and the four underlying principles are explained.

The practical issues to be resolved by human security engineers require that thinking goes far beyond both the traditional “engineering” scopes and the compound structures of various associated disciplines. Practical research involves thoughtfully considering one’s own experiences in applying knowledge to practice, while learning from professionals in the discipline. Practical research integrates the technological rationality characterized by universality, logicality, and objectivity, and the systems of professional thoughts managing specific, symbolic, and active practice. This chapter summarizes the contemporary aspects surrounding practices in human security engineering and presents the fundamental practical research requirements, thought processes, and evaluation schemes.

This chapter proposes that when constructing hard infrastructure it is necessary to develop an urban management concept that takes a broad perspective, extending beyond megacities to include the development of rural areas and a consideration of the links between rural areas and megacities. This chapter includes representative examples that explain approaches for solving problems endemic to megacities, and problems related to links between megacities and rural areas. For problems endemic to megacities: land subsidence caused by excessive groundwater extraction in both Bangkok, Thailand and Osaka, Japan, and a comparison of the measures adopted to mitigate the progress of land subsidence in both cities, are discussed in detail. For problems related to links between megacities and rural areas: landslides in Thailand are examined and the effectiveness of an established early warning system is discussed.

This chapter provides an overview of the ways that environmental problems contributing to health risks in Asian megacities relate to health problems for people. In addition, the development of water supply and sewerage systems and other environmental infrastructure critical for solving such problems and potential future issues are discussed.

Sections 4.1–4.4 explain the complicated nature and scale of environmental health problems in Asia, particularly for its megacities. Risk factors, predominantly with respect to environmental health, are considered based on the Global Burden of Disease report.

Sections 4.5–4.8 discuss the roles environmental infrastructure—water supply and sewerage systems in particular—have played in supporting environmental health in Asian megacities, based on Japanese experiences. Issues that have emerged in connection with the common division of environmental infrastructure into sectors such as water supply systems and sewerage systems are addressed. Solving the environmental health problems facing Asian megacities will require solutions that also consider energy-related issues.

There is an urgent need to establish integrated policies against natural disasters on a worldwide basis; however, there are various reasons, which prevent the society from taking decisive action. This chapter introduces the trend of recent natural disasters, and discusses a basic disaster risk management and governance framework from the perspective of human security engineering. It addresses the constituent elements of disaster risk, how human behaviors are related with natural disaster risks, and what types of policy measures are available for disaster risk management. In addition, it introduces the CAUSE model as a framework of disaster risk governance. In reality, there are frequent situations where it is unclear who manages disaster risk, to whom the disaster risk relates to, and what are the disaster risk problems faced by the stakeholders. Various roles of communication, which are placed in the central position of CAUSE model, are clarified and an explanation is provided on how this leads to a proper establishment of disaster risk governance among stakeholders.

Human security is an emerging concept that has gained interest in the last 15 years. Human security is concerned with reducing and, when possible, removing the insecurities that plague human lives. The human development approach, pioneered by visionary economist Mahbub ul Haq (under the broad umbrella of the United Nations Development Programme), has done much to enrich and broaden development literature. Human development is concerned with the removal of various hindrances that restrain and restrict human lives and prevent people from thriving. Human security is a concept that supplements the expansionist perspective of human development by focusing on what are sometimes called the “downside risks”. Human security, like human development, highlights the social dimension of sustainable development’s three pillars: environment, economy, and society. Although there are recent investigations on the broader perspective of human security from a “security” perspective, there are very few investigations on the community dimension of human security. This chapter summarizes some of the emerging issues at the community level, focusing on the urban context, and provides examples of tools and approaches of community involvement at the city level. Citing examples from an Asian context, the chapter focuses on innovation in community approaches to enhance support for disaster risk reduction and environmental improvements, thereby contributing to human security.

Many national or local governments and public enterprises that operate and manage infrastructure are attempting to introduce asset management approaches to carry out efficient infrastructure maintenance and repair activities amid funding constraints. This chapter discusses the asset management framework that is compatible with the concept of ISO5500X. ISO5500X is an asset management process standard and does not prescribe concrete asset management technology. A de facto standardized asset management system is under development that implements a statistical deterioration model using the Markov deterioration model among others, and has been applied to pavement asset management operations in Japan. The chapter illustrates endeavors to set up international asset management platforms in Vietnam and other Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries.

It is not an overstatement to say that whether practical results are obtained depends on the qualities of leaders, irrespective of the field. A human security education program should foster the young generation as leaders by providing them with a solid foundation of both basic knowledge and the ability to structure problem-solving by strengthening their own capabilities and relating problems to one another from a human security perspective. The curriculum of Japan’s Kyoto University human security engineering education program, where an overseas internship is strongly recommended as a mode 2 discipline, is provided as an example. Factors that should be considered in the administration of an education program are discussed, and the experiences of some program graduates are included.