Why do we need resilient cities?

Why do we need resilient cities?

The world’s population living in cities and urban areas is expected to rise from 55% today to around 70% in 2050, according to OECD. As reported by United Nations, “Hundreds of millions of people will be vulnerable to coastal flooding and related natural disasters as global warming increases. Do not mention, that the facts show there are increasing extreme weather events across the globe in the decade.

Resilient cities are cities that can better handle natural and human-made disasters, protect human life, absorb the impact of economic, environmental and social hazards and promote well-being and inclusive and sustainable growth. Moreover, resilience not only means preparing cities to better respond to disasters, perhaps even more importantly, it also means taking steps to prevent disasters.

In the past decade, capitalism and the global economy have focused on everincreasing efficiencies. Faster and cheaper is great when things are going smoothly, but little room for error if demand quickly changes. A key tension between efficiency and resiliency is the former focuses on making a system very well adapted to a fixed environment, but the latter focuses on making a system very adaptable to changing situations.

There are four areas that drive resilience in cities. The economic perspective begins with diversifying the economy, creating business and employment opportunities, furthermore, people have access to education, services, and skills training. Resilient cities should contain elements about the daily lives of citizens, educating people to act sustainably and inclusively, and encouraging them to have an active voice in local and national decision-making is the way to build safe neighbourhoods and cohesive societies. Governance also plays an important role when shocks happen. Clear leadership and management of the policy mechanisms; strategic and integrated approaches are taken by leaders; all the public sector has the right skill, these are crucial. Moreover, the government should be open and transparent on ordinary days, to be assessed by its people.

Last but not the least, the environment sector is extremely diverse. It needs collaboration from other sectors, cities need to be planned in order to minimize their overall effect on the environment, adequate natural resources are stored, the ecosystem is sound and diverse, coherent policy towards land use, infrastructures need to be strengthened and big efforts must be placed at public education in order to build climate and environment resilience. Responses to disasters in urban areas can promote greater resilience to future crises and support long-term development goals.

In conclusion, resilient cities are cities that have the ability to absorb, recover and prepare for shocks. Resilient cities promote sustainable development, well-being and inclusive growth through four sectors including economy, social, governance and environment, different areas need to work collaboratively. As the experience increases, the greater resilience to future cities.