By Dickson Omobola

Nigerian-born researcher at North Carolina State University, Cornelius Ayodele Ojo, has dismissed long held views that disasters are natural, saying it is not natural, but designed.

Ojo, through his research, has urged the world to shift focus from reactive responses to proactive planning, also saying humans should jettison the attitude of blaming nature for creating the conditions for catastrophe.

Speaking to Vanguard, Ojo said: “Disasters only happen when natural hazards meet vulnerable human systems. A hurricane striking an uninhabited island is just weather. It becomes a disaster when it hits communities that are unprepared, poorly built, or socially disadvantaged.”

According to him, his position upends long-standing narratives and forces a re-evaluation of urban planning, policy-making and design approaches in disaster-prone regions.

Ojo, who studied Architecture at the Federal University of Technology, Akure, credits a university project for inspiring his shift into disaster studies.

He said: “During an urban renewal project in my fourth year, I questioned why people live in environments clearly hazardous to their health and safety. I realised it wasn’t always a choice, it was often about exclusion, poverty, and poor planning.”

According to him, that realization led him to investigate how architecture, land-use policies and social inequality intersect to heighten disaster risks.

His concept of disaster by design emphasises that disasters are not random acts of nature, but the result of deliberate human actions, like building luxury homes on unstable hillsides or clearing wetlands for real estate.

He said: “These are all decisions that manufacture risk. If we designed differently, with nature in mind and with equity at the core, we could reduce or even eliminate many disasters.”

He said: “A key aspect of his research is understanding how disasters disproportionately affect marginalized communities. Hazards may be indiscriminate, but their impacts are not. Hurricane Katrina didn’t discriminate where it made landfall, but Black and poor communities in New Orleans bore the brunt of its devastation. That’s not nature. That’s policy failure and systemic inequality.

“Preserving natural buffers like wetlands and mangroves can protect against flooding and storm surges. Unfortunately, development often destroys these vital ecosystems. Stronger policies and sustainable building codes are essential for long-term resilience.”

“Traditional models operate on what I call the emergency paradigm—wait for disaster, then clean up the mess. My work advocates a shift to risk reduction. We need to design communities that are resilient by default, not just reactive.

“Designers have the power to shape systems that either protect or endanger people. That includes understanding when not to build. Sometimes the safest design is no development at all in high-risk areas,” he said. “Resilient design can also bring co-benefits, like energy efficiency, green spaces, and improved public health.

“We are seeing exciting shifts, from nature-based solutions in the Netherlands to indigenous fire management in Australia and California. People are reconnecting with nature and designing systems that work with the environment rather than fight it.

“We must recognise that disasters are a human construct. That means they’re preventable. Through inclusive design, policy, and planning, we can build a safer and more equitable world, one blueprint at a time.”