A Systems Approach to Building
Urban Resilience
TERI – Rockefeller International Workshop
Resilient Cities – Experiences from ACCCRN in Asia and Beyond
Vulnerability
• Exposure: location of settlements on high risk areas such as flood plains, coastlines and inclined slopes susceptible to
landslides.
• Susceptibility: poor quality construction, lack of drainage or solid waste
management, ground water extraction.
• Poverty: limited access to basic
infrastructure and services (potable water, sanitation), lack of secure tenure or political voice;, poor education and health care,
limited employment opportunities
Grass-roots action at a community level is valuable, but many of these challenges can only be overcome by actions and
Direct and indirect impacts
• Climate change impacts vulnerable
populations:
i. Directly;
ii. Indirectly - as a result of dependency on the effective operation of the wider urban system.
• Action to reduce exposure and
improve the adaptive capacity of urban populations must
simultaneously address:
a. disaster risk reduction; b. urban poverty reduction; c. urban systems resilience
Dependencies and interdependencies
• Climate change will affect the ecosystems, infrastructure , knowledge
networks and institutions that collectively enable a city to function.
• Traditional risk assessments founded on spatial analysis and climate projections
Cities as systems - conceptualising
Cities as systems
–
urban boundary
CONTROL
• Administrative boundary
• Urban and suburban/peri-urban
• Sub-divided in smaller discreet administrative
boundaries (boroughs, districts, wards, etc.)
INFLUENCE
• Wider institutional policy and socio-economic
factors. Eg. national policy
• Includes spatial and non-spatial dynamics at
regional, national and global levels Eg.
– surrounding and distant ecosystems;
– neighbouring settlements;
Urban systems analysis
–
Surat
• Infrastructure, early warning
systems and emergency preparedness plans exist to mitigate flood risk; .
• Flood risk is linked to operation
of the reservoir which is outside the municipal boundary.
• Hydrological modelling and information exchange
between key institutions,
notably rainfall forecasters, dam managers and Surat
Urban systems analysis
–
Indore
• Severe water shortages due to
limited local water supply, compounded by poor
management.
• Opportunity for community-level
interventions centred on
improving knowledge of water resources, how to use water efficiently and improving water quality
COMMUNITY SELF
Defining (and measuring) resilience
• Resilience is system attribute
that reflects its ability to perform (or function) in response to
shocks and stresses.
• System resilience cannot be measured directly, except in terms of changing performance
Characteristics of elements of resilient systems
• As a proxy, the elements of the system (infrastructure,
institutions, ecosystems and
knowledge networks) in a resilient city, will demonstrate a number of
key characteristics .
Summary - Key points
• City scale actions (and interventions) is needed to address many of the challenges faced by poor or vulnerable groups.
• Urban Climate Change Resilience (UCCR) must simultaneously address: disaster risk reduction, poverty reduction; and urban system resilience.
• Spatial analysis alone is insufficient; it does not recognise the flows of goods, services and people that enable a city to function.
• Systems analysis recognises the interdependencies between eco-systems, institutions, infrastructure and knowledge networks and flow of goods and services that enable urban communities and business to flourish.
• A simplified systems model can be used to identify weaknesses and opportunity for intervention; ie. what to do?
Thank you
Further information:
Jo da Silva international-development@arup.com
Sam Kernaghan samuel.kernaghan@arup.com
Full article is in the International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development © 2012
