Building urban resilience: principles, tools, and practice
Resilience is the ability of a system, community, or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate to, and recover from the impacts in a timely and efficient manner. Resilience in the context of cities translates into a new paradigm for urbanization and forms the basis for a new understanding of how to manage hazards and urban development. In the coming decades, the major driver of increasing damages and losses from disasters will be the growth of populations and assets in harm’s way, especially in urban areas. Because of inadequate resources, infrastructure, services, and capacity to manage population increases, cities could face heavy losses of life and property unless governments take proactive measures. There is a critical need for a flexible and dynamic approach to building disaster resilience that goes beyond risk mitigation. Building Urban Resilience: Principles, Tools, and Practice is a practical resource designed to give planners and practitioners an intuitive way to build elements of resilience into urban governance and planning.