Resilient Cities

Resilience is a term that has been also applied to cities to describe them as adaptable, secure, and sustainable. In the article 'Resilient Cities', Peter Newman describes the seven features of resilient cities as archetypes:

1- The Renewable Energy City - cities that maximizes the use of natural and renewable energy sources in order to reduce their ecological footprint. New cities as Masdar in United Arab Emirates or even old cities as Freiburg are adopting this concepts.

2- The Carbon-neutral City - many neighbourhoods are adopting this concept - as BedZED, previously discussed - successfully, the main challenge now is how to apply it to a whole city, but many cities are now adopting strategies to achieve this.

3- The Distributed City - this consists in distribute the power and water systems through the city, decentralizing the system into small systems. Buildings could use the complete water cycle - from clean to gray and black water, produce at least part of its own energy, etc. Cities as New York and London are adopting this concept.

4- The Biophilic City - uses of natural processes in the infrastructure - green roofs and green walls, as well as urban farms, and large uses of vegetation in urban areas. Chicago and Toronto already requires green roofs in commercial buildings.

5- The Eco-efficient City - based on reduction of waste and resources requirements, including 'cradle to cradle' concepts. Kalundborg in Denmark and Kwinana in Australia are good examples of cities adopting this strategy.

6- The Place-based City - place really matters. The place-based city is based on strategies to increase local production and economic development, and the sense of place for its inhabitants that also influence in the development of the city and in its ecological footprint.

7- The Sustainable Transport City - as transport is the most important infrastructure to the city, this strategy aims to reduce fossil fuel consumption by adopting policies to encourage people to walk, use bicycle and public transport - which can be powered by renewable energy.

Applying these concepts to new or existing cities is a challenge, but as the demand for new environmental-friendly solutions increases it cannot be disregarded, being also a great opportunity to developers.

Source: Newman, P, Beatley, T, Boyer, H 2009, 'Resilient Cities', in Haas, T (ed.) 2012, Sustainable Urbanism and Beyond - Rethinking Cities for the Future, Rizzoli, New York.