Using mobile communications as an example, the paper focuses on critically exploring the implications of our reliance on complex technological networks with reference to urban Australia.

The VCCCAR funded project, Governance Models for Adaptation and Natural Disaster Risk Management, is investigating Victorian legal, financial and institutional frameworks for managing the risks of extreme events and natural disasters. It will identify specific risk management mechanisms in land use planning, catchment management, natural...

The project examines the way in which law and governance arrangements shape climate change adaptation in Victoria. This project focuses particularly on the legal, regulatory and institutional dimensions of managing the risks posed by extreme events such as floods and heatwaves (climate risks).

The field of climate change adaptation economics is in its infancy and is currently grappling with the complex interactions and uncertainties that confound estimates about the probable costs, benefits and distribution of climate change impacts and adaptation options.

While private or autonomous adaptation will play a major role in climate change adaptation in Victoria, there exists sites where government intervention is justified. Government intervention is required when autonomous adaptation will not achieve the social optimum due to market failures or information asymmetries (Osberghaus...