Towards Hazard-Resilience Cities: Comparative Research on Resilience-related Policies and Local Practices in Five Cities Worldwide

Abstract

This study provides a comparative analysis of the journey toward hazard-resilience by examining the resilience-related policies and local practices in five exemplary cities worldwide: Cape Town (South Africa), Greater Manchester (UK), Changsha and Wenchuan (China), and San Juan City (Puerto Rico). Through a conceptual framework encompassing seven interrelated dimensions of the social-environmental system, this paper delves into how hazard risk is perceived and resilience is approached in both policy documents and local practices. Policy reviews reveal distinct strategies among cities. Cape Town employs diverse water-saving measures, addressing drought through water resilience. Greater Manchester focuses on human and organizational aspects in disaster risk reduction. Changsha and Wenchuan prioritize specific disaster response measures, while San Juan tackles environmental and socio-economic challenges through multidimensional actions. Local practices illustrate the effectiveness of bottom-up resilience enhancement, with examples including home drilling in Cape Town and community engagement in Changsha. Despite these efforts, there is a common trend across cities of limited consideration for cultural/worldviews and urban-rural-spatial dimensions. Bridging this gap is crucial for effective risk management and disaster recovery. This study underscores the importance of aligning policy formulation with local practices, prioritizing targeted recovery plans, and expanding considerations to include the urban-rural-spatial dimension. Overall, this research contributes valuable insights to the development of hazard-resilient cities, offering policymakers and planners a foundation to prepare cities for future challenges and foster urban resilience.

● Reveals varied hazard resilience strategies across five global cities: Cape Town, Greater Manchester, Changsha, Wenchuan, and San Juan City

● Examines nuanced local practices and underscores the effectiveness of bottom-up approaches

● Demonstrates that integrating top-down policies and grassroots efforts is crucial for effectively building urban resilience

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Hazard Resilience / Policy Framework / Local Practice / Comparative Analysis / Resilience Pathway

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Acknowledgements

·An International Comparative Study of Hazard-Resilient Cities: From Risk Assessment to Pathway Construction, High-end Foreign Expert Project, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (No. G2022160005L) ·Research on the Definition and Prediction Method of the White Land for Disaster Prevention (WLDP), Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation (No. 2022JJ40076) ·Research on Mechanisms and Quantitative Methods of Floor Area Ratio Based on System Dynamics, Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation (No. 2022JJ30149)

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