Making Cities Resilient Report 2012: a global snapshot of how local governments reduce disaster risk

Citation

Molin Valdes, H. and Holly Purcell, P. (2013), "Making Cities Resilient Report 2012: a global snapshot of how local governments reduce disaster risk", International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, Vol. 4 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijdrbe.2013.43504aaa.001

Making Cities Resilient Report 2012: a global snapshot of how local governments reduce disaster risk

Article Type: News articles From: International Journal of Disaster Resilience in the Built Environment, Volume 4, Issue 1

Report by UNISDR and the International Institute for Environment and Development

The United Nations Office of Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) launched the Making Cities Resilient Campaign: My City is Getting Ready! In 2010 in recognition of the increasing risks linked to global urbanization and local governments’ strengthening role in reducing these risks. Since it is launch, the Campaign has amassed pledges from more than 1,100 cities. By signing onto the Campaign, local governments commit to the ten Essentials for Making Cities Resilient, as ten-point checklist that serves as a guide to good disaster risk management and reduction practice.

From San Francisco, California to San Francisco, Philippines, the Campaign’s signatories range from small and modestly resourced municipalities to some of the world’s most populous and economically vibrant metropolises. While there are significant differences in the ability of local governments to cope with disasters and build resilience, there are also many similarities in the challenges they face and in their political will to invest in making their cities safer.

The first Making Cities Resilient Report, which was carried out by the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), aimed to take stock of the efforts these cities are making to reduce their risk to disasters and identify key trends in resilience building. The report also summarizes the work of the Campaign to date and makes recommendations for how it can evolve to help local governments begin to implement disaster risk reduction plans. This report is available for downloading at: www.unisdr.org/campaign/resilientcities/toolkit/report2012/

Today, more than half the global population resides in urban areas. By 2025, roughly two-thirds of the world’s inhabitants and the vast majority of wealth will be concentrated in urban centers. Many of the world’s mega-cities, characterized as those with populations exceeding 10 million, are already situated in locations already prone to major earthquakes and severe droughts, and along flood-prone coastlines, where the impacts of more extreme climatic events and sea level rise pose a greater risk to disasters. Urbanization happening in relatively smaller cities is also a concern – particularly in regions where existing infrastructure and institutions are ill equipped to cope with disasters. The vulnerability of this new generation of urbanites will become a defining theme of disaster risk in the coming decades. Against this backdrop, the report observes two diverging trends relevant to strengthening urban resilience.

The first is one in which competent, sufficiently resourced city and municipal governments work with citizens, businesses and other stakeholders to reduce disaster risk, both through specific risk reduction policies and investments, and by improving infrastructure and the provision of services. There is much innovation to celebrate here. These policies and measures also help build resilience to climate change. There are also notable successes in cities located in low- and middle-income nations, demonstrating that resilience is not exclusive to high-income nations.

The second trend points to many cases in which national and local governments’ attention to disaster risk reduction activities, or to the institutions, infrastructure and services that help build resilience, is failing to keep pace with the rapid rate of urbanization they are witnessing. There are also many cities and smaller urban centers where even the best-oriented disaster risk reduction policies have limited impact due to large deficits in critical social infrastructure and local investment capacity. Consequently, one of the key issues for building urban resilience is how to support and learn from the innovators and leverage significant changes in city-level resilience, even where there are limited resources. Across all the cities analyzed, the five types of activities occurring most frequently are:

1. 1.

   taking disaster risk reduction into account in new urban planning regulations, plans and development activities;

2. 2.

   establishing councils/committees/disaster management structures dedicated to disaster risk reduction;

3. 3.

   constructing hazard-resistant infrastructure or improving existing facilities;

4. 4.

   establishing education/awareness/training programs; and

5. 5.

   citizen participation/multi-stakeholder dialogues.

Another important trend is the extent to which cities are integrating disaster risk reduction into other local government activities, including education, livelihoods, health, environment, and planning, either by incorporating risk considerations into existing activities or initiating projects that address multiple issues simultaneously.

Often, it is the willingness to engage communities and partners that has stimulated progress despite limited resources. Where, for instance, citywide storm and surface drainage system are improved to cope with extreme rainfall, or building stock and other infrastructure are designed to withstand high winds, multiple benefits for local development are being achieved. Innovation, whether homegrown or shared from afar, remains an essential instrument in overcoming the very real challenges to building and sustaining resilience in our cities.

Helena Molin ValdésDeputy Director of UNISDR and Chief of Advocacy and Outreach (molinvaldes@un.org)

Patricia Holly PurcellTechnical and Strategic Adviser, Making Cities Resilient Campaign (holly-davis@un.org)