A Systems Approach to Building

Urban Resilience

TERI – Rockefeller International Workshop

Resilient Cities – Experiences from ACCCRN in Asia and Beyond

Ms Jo da Silva , Director, Arup International Development

29th January 2013

4 countries, 10 cities

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 interventions at a city scale.

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

= Urban Climate Change Resilience (UCCR)

a. b.

c.

i.

i.

ii.

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

are insufficient since they fail to recognise the complexity of cities.

Cities as systems - conceptualising

Urban condition Rural condition

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;

– industrial and economic activities.

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

municipality is critical to

improving resilience

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 ORGANISATION

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

to similar shocks and stresses

over time.

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 .

• A first step towards developing

measurable indicators

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?

• Measuring resilience is problematic; targeting enhancing the characteristics (or

qualities) of system elements serves as proxy.

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 Taylor & Francis. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19463138.2012.718279