The paradox of urban resilience

Posted on: 27 September 2011
By: mackene
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In early 2011, Cathy Wilkinson, a researcher from the Stockholm Resilience Centre, gave a talk on The paradox of urban resilience at a conference in Melbourne. In the talk she explores the paradox that a resilience approach demonstrates the importance of living with disturbances, yet cities have often been designed to remove or minimise environmental disturbances.  Cathy’s research critically explores the relevance of social-ecological resilience for urban governance in theory and practice. A video of the talk is available online.

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Resilience in urban design: 4th International Urban Design Conference. Gold Coast, Australia, 21-23 September 2011

Posted on: 23 September 2011
By: isadm
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This event provided an opportunity to reinforce and highlight resilient solutions for city-wide planning, design and infrastructure in order to successfully address emerging challenges brought about by climate change, peak oil crisis, population growth, social disengagement, technological disparity, rising pollution and waste, demands on food production, rising carbon emissions, and diminishing habitat and biodiversity. A 350-page book of proceedings is available online.

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Sustainable shelter in an age of climate change and disasters. Bangkok, 7-9 September 2011

Posted on: 9 September 2011
By: isadm
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The Asia-Pacific Housing Forum is a biennial event which brings together stakeholders engaged in providing housing solutions to urban poverty. The aim of this conference was to: explore and share solutions that address the urgent and widespread problem of substandard housing in the context of sustainable housing needs and a changing global climate; share strategies and experiences of how best to build resilient communities, including better designs for sustainable homes and settlements; explore how such strategies and experiences can be integrated into “bottom-up” development planning processes. A large number of presentations are available under the following themes: housing policy and climate change; housing finance in response to climate change and disasters; disaster mitigation, response and sustainable development; and technologies for more resilient homes and communities.

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Adaptation and Resilience (Climate Change): report for 2009-10

Posted on: 8 August 2011
By: mackene
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This paper presents the results from a pilot study which aims to identify and measure a defined set of environmental Adaptation and Resilience activities, in relation to Climate Change, (A&RCC) in the UK economy. An initial list of A&RCC activities to be investigated as per Defra’s advice were considered, these included: Construction and retrofit; urban environment redesign and re-engineering; sustainable drainage and water management; energy storage infrastructure resilience; transport infrastructure and logistics resilience; and water irrigation.

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Understanding the risks, empowering communities, building resilience: National flood and coastal erosion risk management strategy for England: Summary strategy

Posted on: 20 July 2011
By: mackene
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This is a summary of the national flood and coastal erosion risk management strategy. It has been published to provide an overview of what the strategy will deliver and what it means for different organisations and the public.

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Protecting development gains: Reducing disaster vulnerability and building resilience in Asia and the Pacific

Posted on: 10 July 2011
By: mackene
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The UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UN/ISDR) and the UN Economic Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) have released the Asia-Pacific Disaster Report 2010. The report notes that the region generated one quarter of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP), but also accounted for 85% of deaths and 38% of global economic losses due to natural disasters over the last 30 years. The report analyzes the socioeconomic impact of disasters, and suggests ways of reducing vulnerability to disasters in order to protect development gains. The report includes sections on: disaster risk in Asia and the Pacific, including a chapter on the impact of climate change on disaster risk; the socioeconomic impacts of disasters; socioeconomic perspectives of reducing vulnerabilities, including chapters on the implications of disasters and climate change for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and scaling up climate change adaptation in Asia and the Pacific; making the recovery resilient; capitalizing on new technology; and cooperating across the region.

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Climate resilient infrastructure: Preparing for a changing climate

Posted on: 10 July 2011
By: mackene
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This report identifies significant opportunities for contractors in retrofitting old infrastructure, as well as developing technologies for use on the projects of the future. The cross-government report outlines the challenges to the transport, energy, water and ICT sectors. The report also sets out what action needs to be taken by infrastructure owners and operators, regulators, insurers and Government. Actions identified in the report to prepare infrastructure for a changing climate include:

• Owners and operators of infrastructure should include measures to improve climate resilience in the maintenance schedules for their assets, and ensure climate impacts are considered in the design of new infrastructure;

• Potential infrastructure investors should demand more information from companies on the climate risks to their assets and measures taken to reduce them as part of their ‘due diligence’ processes;

• Professional bodies should consider if their members have the right skills to help prepare infrastructure for climate change; and

• Engineers should look to develop new materials, techniques and designs to improve the resilience of infrastructure projects to severe weather.

A synthesis of the independent studies that the project commissioned has also been published.

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Financing the resilient city

Posted on: 10 July 2011
By: mackene
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The ICLEI white paper on Financing the Resilient City has just been launched at the Resilient Cities 2011 world congress held in Bonn, Germany on 3-5 June 2011. This report provides a conceptual framework for better understanding how to integrate climate and other risk reduction measures in urban areas and systems. Here resilience is offered as an economic and performance model with far reaching implications. The report calls for more locally responsive climate financing investment strategies and instruments. It also sets the scene for and provides a valuable contribution to the ongoing international discussions on climate financing for adaptation; how it can be mobilized, leveraged and innovated for the local level.

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