HDR director & senior lecturer in disaster risk reduction (construction management discipline) School of Architecture and built environment University of Newcastle, Australia “We’re trying to change the terminology around [so-called] natural disasters, as well as reducing their risk. The rule is that disasters effect the most vulnerable in society, because of certain structural conditions that aren’t an accident, but are by design. “The way our societies are structured benefits a few people at the expense of others, and these are the things you don’t get to talk about if you use words like ‘natural disaster’”. – Dr Jason von Meding, Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture and Built Environment As long ago as the 1970s, scholars were already of the opinion that there’s no such thing as a truly natural “disaster”. Instead, there are simply conditions that allow for certain areas of society to be disproportionately harmed by natural events. So, just how can we reduce the risk to human life during these occurrences? To answer this question, researchers like Dr Jason Von Meding at the University of Newcastle, Australia, are applying scientific method to social, political, and environmental issues, and asking how humanity will be able to support itself in an era of increased consumption, and finite Earthly resources. Traces.Dreams is a place on the web for people interested in the past, passionate about the present and curious about the future. Traces.Dreams is where you can find inspiration through a multidisciplinary and multi-regional perspective. Our vision is to make the big questions and dreams of today’s researchers visible. We interview researchers from different disciplines and countries to get their perspective on their work, their views on life, their “whys”, their motivation and their wishes.