City resilience reflects the overall ‘capacity of a city (individuals, communities, institutions, businesses and systems) to survive, adapt and thrive no matter what kinds of chronic stresses or acute shocks they experience’. (Rockefeller Foundation: 2013).
The City Resilience Index, developed by Arup with support from the Rockefeller Foundation, provides a comprehensive, technically robust, globally applicable basis for measuring city resilience.
It is comprised of 52 indicators, which are assessed based on responses to 156 questions; through a combination of qualitative and quantitative data. The responses are aggregated and presented in relation to the 12 goals (or indices) in the Framework.
Background
Cities are subject to a wide range of natural and man-made pressures that have the potential to cause significant disruption, at their worst leading to cascading social breakdown, economic decline or physical collapse. Historically, urban risk management has focussed on understanding the impact of specific hazards and taking appropriate measures to mitigate risk. In recent years the growing diversity of hazards, increasing complexity of cities, and uncertainty associated with climate change, globalisation and rapid urbanisation has made building urban resilience into a critical agenda.
The Index has been piloted in 5 cities: Shimla, India, Concepcion, Chile, Arusha, Tanzania, Hong Kong, China and Liverpool, UK. We are encouraging policy makers and other city stakeholders to use the interactive on-line assessment tool at www.cityresilienceindex.org and begin this vital analysis.
