Innovative land use planning for natural hazard risk reduction: A consequence-driven approach from New Zealand

The traditional land use planning approach for addressing natural hazards in New Zealand has been based on the likelihood of an event occurring, with little consideration of the consequences associated with natural hazard events. This has led to decisions that place developments and communities at risk. Local government planning authorities who want to transition to risk-based planning face a number of challenges, including: how to satisfactorily define acceptable, tolerable and intolerable risk; how to incorporate the views of stakeholders and affected communities; and how to ensure that potentially controversial decisions over land use options are robust and defensible.