Resilience Principles as a Tool for Exploring Options for Urban Resilience

Abstract

The world is becoming increasingly urban and cities face a constant struggle with the complex environmental, social, economic, and political challenges of the 21st century. Many international organizations have argued that cities will need to become more resilient to these challenges. However, it is not particularly clear what that really means. In practice, policies often use the concept of ‘resilience’ as a buzzword. In this regard, resilience principles – that is, defining specific mechanisms that make a city resilient – can help clarify the concept and its applicability. Several case studies provide examples of how such principles can be used as tools to brainstorm on new solutions, how they can be used to evaluate proposed policy options and overarching urban resilience plans, and how they can be compared to stakeholders’ preferences for national policy strategies. When applied in a structured way, resilience principles provide a powerful tool to move urban resilience thinking from a metaphorical talk to meaningful solutions.