Social capital and social infrastructure help Australians “do disasters differently”
- Deep Hill Media
- May 8
- 2 min read
Long-time disaster resilience expert social enterprise Resilient Ready is leading a national groundbreaking approach to help Australians “do disasters differently” by building community networks through the places people meet.
The Creating a Social Capital and Social Infrastructure Framework to benefit every Australian pilot project is funded by the Australian Government’s Disaster Ready Fund (DRF) and expands on the “snapshot” DRR project delivered in South Australia in 2024 via SAFECOM.
The project will include input from all Australian states and territories to create a national definition and measurement criteria about people connections (social capital) and places where people connect (social infrastructure).
It will also include global social capital expert Professor Daniel Aldrich’s social capital and social infrastructure heatmapping data sets in South Australia.
He will travel with one of Australia’s most experienced disaster resilience experts Renae Hanvin to every state and territory between May and June to explain the concepts of social capital (the ties between people) and social infrastructure (the spaces and places where we build those ties) and how they help build resilience.
In collaboration with the Centre for Australian Research into Access (CARA), Ms Hanvin and Prof Aldrich will share early data findings on what social capital and social infrastructure is to Australians and explain how Prof Aldrich’s global research is relevant to Australia.
Project findings will provide a unified descriptor of what social capital and social infrastructure is, can and should be for Australians.
The data will also help inform government and other stakeholders about where to invest and how to make best policy decisions that will build disaster resilient and ready communities.
From July to September, they will conduct quantitative research in Adelaide, Whyalla and Kangaroo Island, draft the framework document and pilot an online tool to be launched in Adelaide in October.
Prof Aldrich said: “People can’t sit passively by waiting for the government or emergency services to save them in a disaster. We have to teach them how to save themselves – and each other.”
Ms Hanvin said: “The best way to do that is to help people build networks within their communities so they know where to turn locally when disaster strikes.
“Those support networks (social capital) are best forged in the places and spaces where people gather – libraries, shopping centres, community halls, schools, regional pubs etc (social infrastructure).”
The project is the latest in Ms Hanvin and Prof Aldrich’s five-year collaboration, “a great example of #bridgingties”, she said.
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