five approaches to

Urban Resilience and Risk Management

From comprehensive resilience strategies to individual community mapping projects, local governments around the world are adopting a wide range of measures to become better prepared for natural disaster and extreme weather events.

SIATA early warning system
SIATA early warning system - ©Metropolitan area of AburrĂ¡ Valley

The use platform currently presents 25 case studies in the field of urban resilience and risk-management. We have selected  projects from  Tokyo, San Francisco, Montevideo, Metropolitan Area of Aburrá Valley and Kocaeli that demonstrate different strategies that have been implemented and their results and lessons learned.

 

"Prepare before it’s too late": learn to live with earthquakes

After the Marmara earthquake in 1999, the City of Kocaeli decided to implement risk mapping technology to ensure the city was better equipped to combat risks associated with earthquakes. In 2012, the “Prepare before it’s too late” programme was established. It combines two distinct but complementary initiatives. The first is a comprehensive seismological monitoring facility through where data is collected, and risks are analysed and the second is a broad-based citizen education component.

https://use.metropolis.org/case-studies/prepare-before-it-s-too-late-learn-to-live-with-earthquake

 

Pre-earthquake measures in Tokyo

As a consequence of the earthquake in 2011, the city of Tokyo’s transport and communication system collapsed leaving millions of people stranded within the metropolitan area and unable to return home for hours, some even days. Subsequently the city administration established Advisory Boards to develop strategies to reduce the number of potentially stranded people through measures such as more public shelters, emergency supplies at work places and educations institutions and better communication infrastructure.

https://use.metropolis.org/case-studies/pre-earthquake-measures-in-tokyo

 

Resilient San Francsico Strategy

The geographic location of San Francisco makes the city prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes, fires, floods and rising sea levels. Combined with population growth and climate change events, this increased pressure on the city's resilience capacities in terms of infrastructure, social inequity and unaffordability to respond accordingly. In 2014, the city administration embarked on developing a resilience strategy that involved more than 185 individuals, 31 government agencies, and 56 NGO and private sector organizations. 

https://use.metropolis.org/case-studies/resilient-san-francisco

 

The Resilience Strategy of Montevideo

In 2017, the Resilience Executive Unit was created within the Intendencia of Montevideo (the agency in charge of the executive branch of the government of Montevideo). The Unit was responsible for developing a resilience strategy through workshops, expert panels, interviews, perception surveys and with the existing data available. In September 2018, the Resilience Strategy was launched to prepare the city and its inhabitants, to face the diverse challenges that urbanization, climate change and globalization represent. 

https://use.metropolis.org/case-studies/the-resilience-strategy-of-montevideo

 

CUIDÁ: vigias ambientales: risk prevention through citizen engagement

The CUIDÁ environmental committees are comprised of volunteers who administer a program of education, monitoring and control of the environmental conditions of the Aburrá Valley. They are trained in implementing sustainable emergency prevention strategies in communities that are vulnerable to natural disasters. The committees initiate activities that promote environmental awareness and sustainability strategies to residents. They work collaboratively with government agencies such as the Municipal Council of Risk Management and the Risk Management Group of the Metropolitan Area of the Aburrá Valley in the evaluation of risk. 

https://use.metropolis.org/case-studies/cuida-vigias-ambientales-risk-prevention-through-citizen-engagement

 

To read more case studies from a diverse range of cities , click on search and then click on resilience and risk management in the choose topics field.

Published on 15/05/2019