Living With Risk: Building the Future of Resilient Cities

Abstract

The disasters frequently happened these years made the term "resilience" gained increasing attention. Since the end of the 20th century, the way of responding to disaster risks has evolved from disaster prevention to reduction, and now to resilience governance, shifting from the pursuit of "zero risk" to living with risk. In this interview, Professor Guofang Zhai from Nanjing University summarizes the development process of resilient city construction in China, highlighting that the primary task is to enhance infrastructure resilience. Facing the issue of spatial imbalance of urban resilience, it is essential to give full play to the role of territorial spatial planning, with whole-process, multi-factor, multisystem research on urban resilience as an important reference for planning and design, and take disaster scenario simulation as a crucial technical approach. It is necessary to implement both engineering and non-engineering measures, to increase public awareness of risks and to encourage individual participation into the building of resilient cities. Planners and designers should also have a deeper understanding of the possible disasters and be prepared for emergency responses to disasters that exceed standard defense levels.

● The years of 2005, 2015, and 2020 are three significant milestones of China’s resilient city construction

● The whole-process, multi-factor, multi-system research on urban resilience is an important reference for planning and design, which takes disaster scenario simulation as a crucial technical approach

● Resilient city construction necessitates both engineering and non-engineering measures

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Resilient City / Risk / Climate Change / Territorial Spatial Planning / Sponge City / Disaster Scenario Simulation

References

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[3] Li, Y. , & Zhai, G. (2017) China's urban disaster resilience evaluation and promotion. Planners, 33 ( 8), 5– 11.

[4] National Institute of Building Sciences. (2019). Natural hazard mitigation saves: 2019 report.

[5] Duan, Y. , Zhai, G. , & Li, W. (2021) International research progress on measuring urban resilience. Urban Planning International, 36 ( 6), 79– 85.

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[7] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2023). Climate change 2023: Synthesis report.

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