An integrative review of the built environment discipline's role in the development of society's resilience to disasters

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present an integrative review of the literature to explore the nature of the built environment discipline's potential role in the development of society's resilience to disasters. Design/methodology/approach The integrative literature review method is used to address this emerging topic and present a holistic conceptualisation of the literature. For the purpose of this review, the Business Source Premier (EBSCO), Emerald Management eJournals, Management & Organization Studies (CSA) and Science Direct (Elsevier) electronic databases are the main source for identifying studies, along with conference proceedings from the events of major built environment and disaster‐related networks. Findings A review of the literature reveals that the built environment “discipline”, at each stage of the disaster management process, has invaluable expertise and a key role to play in the development of society's resilience to disasters. However, the collaborative definition of the built environment hides many of its underlying properties, which are multi‐disciplinary in nature. It is important that a suitable conceptual framework is developed that explores the interaction between the built environment, its disciplines, and the disaster management process. Originality/value At present, research on disasters and the built environment is sporadic, hindered by an ill‐defined disciplinary base. When searching for emergent theory, a conceptual framework is important for situating further study in the relevant knowledge bases that lay the foundation for the development of a theoretical base for the field.