Towards urban resilience

Resilience is the capacity and ability of a community to withstand stress, survive, adapt, bounce back from a crisis or disaster and rapidly move on. Resilience needs to be understood as the societal benefit of collective efforts to build collective capacity and the ability to withstand stress. A broad and systems understanding of resilience is important. Some general principles are shown in this briefing sheet.

ICLEI Briefing Sheet

May 2011

Urban resilience to face greater peril

Concentration of assets and people. Cities and urban areas accommodate around 3.5 billion people, including one billion people in slum dwellings. Urban areas will need to accommodate an additional three billion people in the next 40 years. Cities are complex physical and socio-economic systems, and they are home to many people. All these people need jobs, food and water, housing, transport, sanitation and social services. Cities are sites of consumption and production, capital investments in infrastructure, business, and people. For the largest 100 urban economies contributed 15,247 Billion US$ GDP, near to 30 percent of the global GDP in 2005. Disaster and risk. At the same time, cities are exposed to environmental hazards, such as heavy rains and storms, flooding, earthquakes, tornadoes, storm surges, volcanoes, droughts, disease, extreme heat and cold. Many of these environmental hazards occur naturally. Risks are informed to a large part by our choices where to live. Risks further increase through poor planning, concretization, haphazardly built or badly maintained infrastructure, lack of awareness, and absent risk assessments. Risk also can interact with other hazards such as chemical pollution, or socio-economic dynamics causing food shortages or price spikes. Poorly understood multi-cause interactions between the natural and man-made environment are often the underlying cause for poor prevention and emergency responses can change a stressful condition into a crisis, that again can turn into a disaster. The potential of loss increases with the concentration of people, assets and goods over a small area. Climate change. The effects of climate change will increase many urban stresses. Conditions which are likely to worse include air pollution, heat islands, floods and landslides, strains on infrastructure, water and food supplies, ecosystems and health services, economic disruptions, and cause damage to buildings. Relatively small increases in sea level rise will have a major impact on cities in coastal areas. Climate change will undermine economic productivity and together with other conditions the viability of the city itself. Costs. Risk is the threat of major human, economic and social loss. Between 2000 and 2005 around 262 million people were affected by climate disasters annually. Hundreds of billions of dollars of capital stock have been destroyed in individual locations. Costs include the loss of housing, consumer durable goods, energy and
Resilience
"Resilience is the capacity and ability of a community to withstand stress, survive, adapt, bounce back from a crisis or disaster and rapidly move on. Resilience needs to be understood as the societal benefit of collective efforts to build collective capacity and the ability to withstand stress." Source: ICLEI (2011).

Interconnectedness of urban systems

The recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan illustrates the complex inter-connectedness of various risks (earthquake, tsunami, energy systems, housing etc.). It also illustrates the connectedness of cities today. The impacts of the tsunami, particularly on Japans power generation capacity and economy, were felt around the world. At the same time nations, cities and citizens extended their support.

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Resilience
"The ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate to and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions." Source: United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, UNISDR Terminology on Disaster Risk Reduction (2009).

other industrial infrastructure, and the breakdown of government structures and equipment. This is not to forget the collapse of important transport and utility infrastructures for people and social services, and the invaluable price attached to human life. If a flood hits a megacity, millions of people, houses and businesses can feel the immediate effects, and many more the indirect effects. Though the immediate impact is often local, effects can often be felt globally. Cities and city dwellers across the globe can support and learn from each other to reduce common risks. Greater risk requires greater resilience. The more a society is exposed to risks and change, the more resilient a community must be. Economic and social costs will increase where climate events become more intense and/or more frequent. Ecosystems and urban systems are highly complex and, therefore, often fragile. The collapse of key urban systems, such as energy systems, can have a domino effect and jeopardize the functioning of other urban systems. The lack of power can lead to the collapse of utility systems. Without housing people have no safe place to sleep. Without transport people may not be able to purchase goods and access jobs. Without an economy people may have no livelihood to sustain themselves with. Each dimension is deeply interwoven in the urban fabric. Few cities are already very resilient, but many more are not or insufficiently accounting their risk exposure.

Disaster Risk Reduction

"The concept and practice of reducing disaster risks through systematic efforts to analyse and manage the causal factors of disasters, including through reduced exposure to hazards, lessened vulnerability of people and property, wise management of land and the environment, and improved preparedness for adverse events." Source: United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction, UNISDR Terminology on Disaster Risk Reduction (2009).

What is urban resilience?

Urban resilience. Cities are highly complex interdependent systems with physical, organizational, social, and economic properties. Urban resilience is the ability of urban systems to withstand certain levels of stress by: Having flexible systems to absorb sudden shocks and slow onset of events. Distributing stress across systems and avoiding single pressure points. Restoring functionality in a timely way to contain loss and avoid disruption. Having substitutable systems, if a major loss in functionality occurs. Designing systems that safely fail to avoid catastrophic failure. Developing ability to identify problems and building capacity to deal with them, establish priorities and mobilize resources to respond, adapt and rapidly move on. Urban resilience can be understood as the societal benefit of these collective efforts to build capacity in society, and develop the ability of systems and communities to withstand stress and rapidly move on. Understanding vulnerabilities. Urban systems can be fragile. To withstand stress a city, a community and citizens need to understand where they are vulnerable. Vulnerabilities usually depend upon specific geographic, sectoral, systemic and social contexts. If, for example, transportation corridors, power supply and telecommunication infrastructures are on flood planes or in storm surge inundation zones, protected or not, a catastrophic failure of the system is likely. Where local adaptive capacity is low, livelihoods poor, or dependent on fragile systems, people are usually most affected. Disadvantaged, marginalized or developing communities often need longer to recover and move on, if they can. Adaptive capacity can include social capital, such as social networks, physical capital like housing, and healthy, functioning ecosystems. Understanding such vulnerabilities and risk are the basis for well developed emergency and economic recovery plans, and for building community resilience.
ICLEI Briefing Sheet Urban Resilience May 2011

Adaptation
Adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities. Source: UNFCCC, Glossary of climate change acronyms; IPCC, Fourth Assessment Report Climate Change 2007: Working Group II: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.

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Role for local governments to build urban resilience

Cities and citizens. Local governments and municipal authorities are accountable to and for their citizens. They should ensure that their city and municipality, where possible, is not affected by disaster or aim to significantly mitigate adverse effects and withstand certain levels of stress. Ideally, a city or community is no worse off than before or during an event, recovers rapidly and moves on. However, the time required to recover is a loss in itself, expressed in opportunity costs. It is, therefore, important to account sources of stress and for pre, during, and postevent impacts. Showing leadership in integrating solutions. Local governments need to show and build upon community leadership and political will, participation and empowerment. Awareness and understanding of risk and risk reduction measures need to be developed and integrated. This can include safer building construction, integration of disaster risk management into planning and development practices, mitigation and preparedness to reduce vulnerability in a total risk management approach, long-term land use, adaptation planning and accounting for future climate scenarios. The assessment of environmental risks and vulnerabilities can include storm surge inundation zones, 100-year flood zone delineations, assessing the amount of impervious surfaces and runoff, topography, climate scenarios, heat islands, wind channels, impacts by changes to biodiversity and ecological corridors among many other.
ICLEI's current services and contributions

Resilience as place-based performance

"Resilience needs be based upon place-based performance. Urban areas are built to provide economic utility and advantages and quality services and community life. They are built to perform. As part of a place-based system a more optimized functioning together of the components is possible. By benefiting the performance of the area, efficiency opportunities as well as increased value arise for the whole area or systems and not just of single buildings or infrstructure." Source: ICLEI, 2011, Financing the Resilient City: A demand driven approach to development, disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation, ICLEI Global Report.

ICLEI has a long standing commitment to building resilience. Resilence is featured in ICLEI's strategic plan since 2003. At the 2002 Johannesburg Summit ICLEI launched the Resilient Communities and Cities partnership program. Methodologies and tools were tested, and reference pilot cases implemented. Local Resilience Agendas was developed to address social cohesion and local vulnerability to extreme events. Current services include: Resilient Cities annual global forum on cities and adaptation to climate change in Bonn, Germany, are held back-toback with the UNFCCC Bonn talks: 03-05 June, 2011 11-13 May, 2012 31 May - 2 June, 2013 Adaptation planning guidance for local governments including: ICLEI Oceania Adaptation Toolkit, ICLEI Canada guide 'Changing Climate, Changing Communities', ICLEI USA ADAPT tool; Implementation of adaptation projects for example: Africa (5 City Adaptation Network, including the use of Interactive Climate Change and Climate Impact Training Tool (ICCCI Tool) and Local Interactive Climate Change Risk and Adaptation Prioritization Training Tool (Local RAP tool); For more information see ICLEI Africa Secretariat. ICLEI Europe in cooperation with ICLEI South Asia and Southeast Asia (AsianCitiesAdapt), specifically community based adaptation, adaptive water management and adaptation measures in integrated urban management systems. ICLEI is the only local government network that supports the Nairobi Work Program (NWP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Chance (UNFCCC). The Resilient Cities congress, the global annual forum on cities and adaptation, is the Action Pledge of ICLEI to the NWP. ICLEI also acts as an official observer organisation to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

ICLEI Briefing Sheet Urban Resilience May 2011

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UNISDR's Making Cities Resilient Campaign Ten point checklist:

Clear organizational and coordination responsibilities; z Assign a budget and incentives to public and private actors; z Assess and raising awareness of hazards, vulnerabilities and risks; z Invest and maintain in critical infrastructure (e.g. storm drainage); z Ensure safety of schools and health facilities; z Enforce relevant regulations and planning principles (building and land-use codes); z Provide education and training; z Protect ecosystems and natural buffers; z Install early warning systems and emergency management capacities; z Provide for the needs of affected population. See www.unisdi.org
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Taking action. Local governments can assess and enhance the resilience of their own administrative buildings and service functions. They can provide information and education campaigns, research on future impacts, environmental risks and identify measures to build resilience. They can plan to mitigate impacts, facilitate risk insurances and strengthen micro-finance. By providing warning systems they can protect infrastructure, and enable effective emergency relief. Cities can regulate and reduce vulnerable activities through regulated land-use zoning and relocating vulnerable sites, improving planning and building codes. In essence, local governments need to develop long-term strategies to adapt to climate change and build resilience of communities; and build institutional and legal frameworks to support actions and capacity. A supportive multi-level governance system is needed to enable and strengthen locally implemented bottom-up actions that allow for decentralized and selfreliant solutions. These can account for unique aspects of urban areas and many tools, guidelines and approaches already exist for local actors and leaders.
Sources and further reading
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ICLEI, 2007, Resilient Communities and Cities Initiative. ICLEI, 2011, Financing the Resilient City: A demand driven approach to development, disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation, ICLEI Global Report. www.unisdr.org/english/campaigns/campaign2010-2011/cities/. www.cityriskpedia.com/. Seymoar, N.-K., 2005, Sustainable Cities, Strengthening Community Resilience, International Center for Sustainable Cities. Tierney and Bruneau, 2007, Conceptualizing and Measuring Resilience: A key to disaster loss reduction, TR News 2050 May June 2007. Tyler, S. et al., 2010, Planning for Urban Climate Resilience: Framework and Examples from the Asian Cities, Boulder, Colorado. UNISDR's Making Cities Resilient Campaign and Earthquakes and Megacities Initiative (EMI) showcase City Risk Profiles and Practices. UNISDR, 2010, Strengthening climate change adaptation through effective disaster risk reduction, Briefing Note 03.

Key Contacts
ICLEI World Secretariat Capacity Center Kaiser-Friedrich-Strasse 7 D-53113 Bonn, Germany Tel: +49-(0)228/ 976299-00 Fax:+49-(0)228/ 976299-01 Email: capacity.center@iclei.org www.iclei.org Resilient Cities Congress Secretariat Tel: +49-(0)228/ 976299-28 Email: resilient.cities@iclei.org www.iclei.org/resilient-cities

ICLEI Briefing Sheets are a service of the ICLEI World Secretariat

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ICLEI Briefing Sheets provide background information to current themes related to local and urban sustainability. www.iclei.org/briefingsheets Contributors to this Briefing Sheet: Richard Simpson (ICLEI World Secretariat), Steve Gawler (ICLEI Oceania Secretariat), Alice Balbo (ICLEI World Secretariat), Adrien Labaeye.

ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability is an international association of local governments implementing sustainable development. ICLEIs mission is to build and serve a worldwide movement of local governments to achieve tangible improvements in global sustainability with special focus on environmental conditions through cumulative local actions. ICLEI World Secretariat. Email: publications@iclei.org 2011 by ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability. All rights reserved.

May 2011

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