A research-based, practice-relevant urban resilience framework for local government

Figures & data

Table 1. Main concepts of urban resilience in the international literature (adapted from Ferguson, Wollersheim, and Lowe 2021).

Definition	Primary objective	Key characteristics	Implied desired state	Resilience of what?	Resilience to what?	Resilience for whom?
Bouncing back resilience	Bouncing back	Persistence, Recovery (quick)	Single, stable state	Built environment, infrastructure, urban populations	Specific shocks	Maintain existing social structures
Ecological resilience	Bouncing forward	Persistence, Recovery, Adaptive capacity, Transformative capacity	Multiple possible stable states	Urban-based ecosystems, human-environment systems	All shocks and stresses, known and unknown	Potential to consider social equity
Evolutionary resilience	Bouncing forward	Persistence, Recovery, Adaptive capacity, Transformative capacity	Multiple possible system states that are dynamic (not static)	Many and interconnected urban systems, with greater emphasis on social aspects	All shocks and stresses, known and unknown	Transformation can include improving social equity and intergenerational justice

Figure 1. System qualities enable the key characteristics of evolutionary urban resilience.

Table 2. Adaptation of the 100RC programme’s resilience qualities.

Adapted resilience qualities for local government	100RC resilience qualities (Rockefeller Foundation and Arup 2015)
Reflective^#	Reflective
Robust*^#	Robust
Spare capacity*^#	Redundant
Flexible^#	Flexible
Inclusive*^#	Inclusive
Integrated*^#	Integrated
–	Resourceful
Prepared	–
Innovative*	–
Diverse*^#	–
Future-focused^#

*Aligned with resilience characteristics identified by Ribeiro and Gonçalves (2019).

^# Aligned with resilience characteristic identified by Meerow and Stults (2016).

Table 3. Definitions of resilience qualities and the resilience characteristics they enable.

Qualities of resilient systems	Brief and full definition of resilience qualities (adapted from Rockefeller Foundation and Arup 2015)		Resilience characteristics enabled
Prepared	Ready to respond in the face of uncertainty	Communities, services and institutions are aware of, and ready to act appropriately in the face of, expected or unexpected shocks and stresses	Persistence
Robust	Fail safe, and safe to fail	Systems, structures and critical services are able to withstand external shocks. Any failure is safe, predictable and proportionate	Persistence
Spare capacity	Sufficient reserves to continue to function when disrupted	There are sufficient reserves or spare capacity within urban systems in addition to built-in system redundancy so that core systems can continue to function even when disrupted	Persistence, Recovery, Adaptive capacity
Diverse	Variety of components, so no single system is relied upon	A city is comprised of a variety of social, geographic, ecological, economic, governance and other elements, so there can be diversity in threat response, and no single sub-system is relied upon	Recovery, Adaptive capacity
Reflective	Lessons learned can inform current and future actions	Feedback loops and monitoring are built into system components and governance structures so that real-time information and lessons learned can inform current and future actions and approaches	Adaptive capacity
Integrated	Alignment across sectors and systems, to ensure effective management	Alignment within and across sectors, systems and levels of government to ensure urban systems can be effectively managed and creatively harnessed	Adaptive capacity
Inclusive	Everyone has a stake and a say in the city	Urban systems, including social and governance systems are inclusive for all, transparent and participatory in nature	Adaptive capacity, Transformative capacity
Flexible	Quick adjustment, responsiveness, and the ability to evolve over time	Plans, actions and system components are flexible enough to allow for quick adjustment during a shock or a stress, as well as having the ability to evolve over time	Adaptive capacity, Transformative capacity
Future-focused	Foresight about future conditions informs planning and decision-making	Evidence-based knowledge and foresight about future conditions informs planning and decision-making, to avoid unnecessary threats and inform intentional adaptations and transitions	Adaptive capacity, Transformative capacity
Innovative	Experimentation to test alternate ideas and solutions	There is space for experimentation and innovation to test alternate ideas and resourceful solutions to shocks and stresses	Transformative capacity

Figure 2. Urban resilience framework for local government.

Ferguson, P., L. Wollersheim, and M. Lowe. 2021. “Approaches to Climate Resilience: Mapping the Main Discourses.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Climate Resilient Societies, edited by R. Brears, 1–25. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

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Meerow, S., and M. Stults. 2016. “Comparing Conceptualizations of Urban Climate Resilience in Theory and Practice.” Sustainability 8 (7): 701. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8070701.

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Rockefeller Foundation, and Arup. 2015. City Resilience Framework. Rockefeller Foundation and Arup.

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