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Preface to the volume "Disaster Resilience and Human Settlements. Emerging Perspectives in the Anthropocene"

The chapter sets the context starting from the emerging perspectives on disaster resilience and human settlements in the larger context of the proposed new geological era of Anthropocene. It explores the impact of disasters on the human settlements, giving examples and illustrating the theoretical reference framework regarding the birth of the idea of the Anthropocene. The chapter focuses on the interdisci-plinary nature of the ‘disaster resilience and human settlements’ theme in relation to the various global development agendas, including the Expanded Brown Agenda, the Hyogo Framework of Action, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement, and the New Urban Agenda. In doing so, it dwells in particular on the theme of social vulnerability as an element capable of transforming an extreme natural event into disaster. From the various international agendas, it emerges, that the current and emerging perspectives on disaster resilience via-a-vis must be studied and addressed through a holistic and integrated approach. Such an approach ought to involve natural and social scientists, humanists, planners, policymakers, and profes-sionals in the global debate.

Sicily’s uneven geological structure is positioned within a system of tectonic plates. Its (very) active volcano, Mount Etna, has always made it prone to disasters. Nevertheless on the flanks of Etna there are many urbanized areas and the population living on the slopes of Etna has increased a lot in the last century, because there is an ancient and intimate relationship between the land and the people who live and work on the land. In this chapter I will try to investigate possible changes in the perception of the risks associated with the volcano by the resident population by conducting survey in the villages of Fleri, Pisano, Pennisi and Santa Maria la Stella. This study is part of a growing body of research on changes in the perception of risk in the Etna area.