Academic literature on the topic 'Urban resilience'

This research is a small part of a bigger field of research made before by other authorsregarding the humans in the urban public space. It has a small context compared to otherstudies, but a big impact inside the community. It aims at finding answers to questions thatother researchers asked before, but under different circumstances and they displayed them through different ways such as documentary films (The social life of small urban spaces 1980, How to live in a city 1964).After experiencing the city life of Malmö and some questions have been raised, the concept of resilience intersected with the interest of social public life in a neighbourhood. In order to have the theoretical framework to answer the research question, the thesis follows a literature review, where the concepts of resilience, urban resilience, resilient urban design and social resilience have been explored.Next, after exploring the city of Malmö, some case studies have been chosen and studiedthrough direct observation in different months starting with March and various times of theday. In the methodological approach section the methods are explained as well as a detailed presentation of the biggest tool used for this research: observational drawing. The tools used for the observation are field notes, observational drawings and photographs. The cases are spread throughout the city and are located in neighbourhoods with different urban tissues. The results reveal all the observational drawings made during the field visits and the field notes written. They show how people use the spaces in all three case studies depending on the weather or other external factors.The discussion reveals the complexity of the relation between concepts and the empiricaldata, following the initial aim of the research throughout the discussion. This thesiscontributes with important outcomes to the field of urban studies creating awareness about the urban context and its influence on people. The findings of this study show a diversity and creativity of users in using the public space.

Beyond Resilience is a Thesis in the form of an open essay that address the limits of urban resilience concept not only from its current semantic perrsion, but also from a ne perspectie: the resilience itself as a process or as a system, according to Kuhn's approach, and its possible paradigm shift from positie resilience to negatie resilience, till a hypothetical collapse scenario.

Riga has suffered a population loss of more than 29% between 1990 and 2014 which has led to increasing number of abandoned and degraded buildings in the city and optimization of the network of educational and cultural institutions. These trends are characteristics of urban shrinkage – a complex process affecting Riga for more than two decades and resulting in a pattern of growing, shrinking, and stable districts. A similar pattern has also been identified in other shrinking cities in Europe, but it has not been researched in more detail. In the given context, this research aims to narrow the knowledge gap on processes occurring in shrinking cities and to provide some understanding of the determinants of these processes on the city and local level through analysis of single embedded case study of Riga. To achieve this aim, resilience is used as an analytical concept. It allows to conceptualize urban shrinkage as a slow-burn (slowly occurring disturbance) and propose three possible responses - adaptation, transformation, and decline. These responses emerge from actions of actors on various spatial scales and lead to different outcomes. It also provides the basis for analyzing the determinants of these responses by conceptualizing them as sources of resilience and suggesting seven different aspects found in literature: leadership, networks, resources, learning, people-place connection, common cause, and system of institutions and governance. Finally, these theoretical assumptions are used to define two main research questions: (1) what are responses to urban shrinkage in Riga? (2) what are sources of resilience to urban shrinkage in Riga? The need for in-depth research of urban processes led to choosing mixed method strategy for both selecting the embedded units of analysis (districts) in Riga and finding answers to the proposed research questions. Based on combined results of secondary data analysis, controlled expert group discussion, and structured site visits, five districts in Riga were selected – Avoti, Maskavas forštate, Bolderāja, Sarkandaugava, and Ķīpsala. Further data collection and analysis included semi-structured interviews with different actors at the city and district level and document analysis. The study finds that there are four different responses to urban shrinkage in Riga: mitigation, adaptation, transformation, and possible decline. Mitigation can be identified on city (also national) level and is closely linked with the strategic actions proposed by the local and national government in response to population decline. Adaptation can be observed on the city and local level. It is the dominant response type in Riga emerging from strategic actions and different activities by various actors in response to all of the identified processes associated with urban shrinkage in Riga. Transformation, however, can be found only on local level – district (in one specific case) or unit level. It emerges from activities of mostly non-government actors that are making use of the opportunities provided by urban shrinkage in Riga. Finally, further decline is a potential response in several Riga districts resulting from strategic actions of local municipality and inability of some of the actors to deal with the existing situation. The analysis of sources of resilience reveals that there are four main determinants of adaptation and transformation – leadership, networks, resources, and learning. Other sources of resilience (people-place connection, common cause, and engaged governance) function as additional drivers or catalysts. All of these sources of resilience can be identified in Riga, but not consistently across all spatial scales and units or actor groups. The main deficiencies are linked with availability of resources (human and financial) among different actor groups, the existing system of governance (involvement of actors in the decision-making process) and leadership (on city level). The study also shows differences related to responses to urban shrinkage and different sources of resilience, especially leadership, learning, and resources. Overall, the findings support the main theoretical assumptions of the study and allow refining the understanding of responses to urban shrinkage and sources of resilience. The results can be used as the basis for developing an approach for assessment of the level of resilience to urban shrinkage or other slow burns in the urban context.

Master of Landscape Architecture<br>Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning<br>Blake Belanger<br>Resilience in social-ecological systems, defined by ecologist C.S. Holling (1973), is the persistence of systems after a disturbance. This theory of resilience is becoming increasingly important, especially in urban areas where human systems dominate. Therefore, creating resilient social-ecological systems is emerging as a focus for many landscape architects when designing urban landscapes. Researchers and practitioners have created frameworks and strategies for applying resilience theory, but designers are still lacking tangible methods they can use to implement design strategies to create resilient landscapes. This research presents a set of resilient design strategies, so landscape architects can have a tool to design generally resilient social-ecological systems in urban areas. In order to discover strategies which improve system resilience, I conducted a literature review and created a perceptual model of the social-ecological systems operating in the study site, Washington Square Park in Kansas City, Missouri. The perceptual model determined systems and system components I focused on in this research. These systems are soil, water, vegetation, fauna, and people. Strategies suggested by Jack Ahern (2011), Brian Walker and David Salt (2006), and Kevin Cunningham (2013) for creating resilience determined strategies which were applied to the system components in order to evaluate the park for resilience. The strategies suggested are modularity, redundancy, tight feedbacks, and ecosystem services. In addition, the system components and strategies were used to analyze case studies. I used strategies discovered in the case study analyses along with goals for the redesign of Washington Square Park, discovered by analyzing the site and previous park documents, to create the guidelines. I then used the guidelines to create a design proposal for the park. The current state of the system components in the park and the proposed state from the redesign were used to show the guidelines’ success in increasing the general resilience of Washington Square Park. These guidelines have potential to increase resilience in other urban civic spaces through a similar methodology I used for Washington Square Park. In addition, the guidelines have the potential to further research in applying resilience theory to the design of landscapes.

This thesis explores the paradox that urban development continues down a cost minimisation approach resulting in low-density, car-orientated, energy-intensive urban form even though the social and environmental benefits of creating resilient residential communities through the adoption of collective sustainable urban designs and practices are well known. Fundamentally the thesis is concerned with exploring the barriers to creating resilient residential communities in order to establish pathways towards reducing cities’ vulnerability to peak oil and impacts on climate change To achieve this, the urban governance configurations and development practices at three ‘innovative’ residential development sites were investigated to understand the barriers to constructing sustainable residential communities. The first site was Wigram Skies, Christchurch, New Zealand which is being produced by an indigenous development corporation, Ngai tahu Property. The second is Kirimoko, Wanaka, New Zealand which is being produced by an environmental developer, and the third is Aurora, Melbourne Australia, which is being produced by a government development agency, VicUrban. There is a particular emphasis on developer values and actor interactions, as well as the political and institutional processes that influence the adoption of sustainable water management initiatives and energy efficient designs and concepts at these sites. This provides an understanding of New Zealand’s and Australia’s progress towards ‘urban resilience’. This is a concept that is increasingly being used to provide a longer-term, holistic view of sustainable urban development. Case study analysis was applied as the main method of enquiry to understanding and conducting this investigation. The case studies draw on data gathered from seventeen semi-structured interviews, two focus groups, two fieldtrips and document analysis. The case studies revealed power relations between actors during the development process resulting in internal and/or external ‘silo-thinking’ and design objective conflicts. Council planners’ and urban designers’ knowledge and experience, coupled with developers’ cost and risk minimisation mindset and potential home purchasers’ housing preferences are regarded as the main factors that influence the design and therefore end product of residential developments. The adoption of sustainable water management initiatives at the three development sites was influenced by council plans and developers’ desire to add amenity for marketing purposes. The complexities of design, maintenance and health concerns were the main factors that can influence the adoption of sustainable water management initiatives. There are no mandates that require energy efficient designs or concepts at the three sites and therefore such initiatives shown at two sites (Kirimoko and Aurora) were voluntary design approaches. The reluctance to incorporating such design approaches stems from a current market and psychological resistance to paying for and realising the benefits of active and passive solar design. This thesis suggests that greater political leadership, financial incentives and further research carried out on urban governance configurations, consumer preferences and the economic benefits of sustainable urban design are required to ensure progress towards urban resilience and reduce cities’ vulnerability to peak oil and impacts on climate change.

The quest for resilient cities has emerged as a strategy to mitigate and adapt the problems created by urban population growth and rapid urbanisation. Resilience has increasingly become an important urban policy discourse that challenge cities to reflect on their adaptive capacity to function in the face of adversity. Urban resilience in particular, amplifies the concern that urban spaces are the hub of heightened complexities of diverse risks. Across the globe, the concept of resilience is gaining momentum with many academic researchers discussing this phenomenon. In South Africa, the concept has been sparingly incorporated in a number of literatures with little focus on local government entities such as municipalities. In order to close this gap in the literature, and in response to the increasing use of the concept locally, this study explores the extent to which factors of resilience resonate within the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality urban management practices. Based on the exploration of a wide array of literature from various disciplinary areas, this study examines the concept of urbanisation and the related challenges. It also critically explores the concept of resilience, its application in urban management as well as the attributes of the adaptive capacities that enable urban resilience. This research adopts the City Resilience Framework and Index developed by Arup in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation to assess the levels of resilience in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. The framework identifies four main dimensions used to measure resilience: People’s health and wellbeing, Organisation of the economy and society, Place of urban systems and services and Knowledge inherent in leadership and strategy. These dimensions form the basis of an integrative framework that provides an alternative lense through which cities can understand their unique attributes that contribute to their resilience. This research highlights the levels of resilience within the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality and outlines practical implications for Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality’s management which can also be applied in other cities. This research adopts a positivist approach and applies statistical empirical measures using a quantitative analysis process. The research instrument in the form of a questionnaire was administered to the target population for data collection. Using the conceptual framework, the researcher applied statistical analysis to derive relationships amongst the variables to determine the degree of resilience in Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality using the four main dimensions of the framework. The findings of the study show the varying levels of resilience within NMBM’s practices. NMBM’s principal success areas include; providing basic houses, ensuring water and sanitation facilities, instituting effective labour policies, providing skills development and training facilities especially to the youth, enabling a conducive atmosphere for business development and the presence of an integrated development strategy. However, not much has been done in providing sufficient public health facilities, alternative energy sources, access to financial services, ensuring food security, enabling continuity of projects and activities through a funded budget, providing emergency medical services in the event of a disaster, high levels of corruption and insufficient deterrents to crime. Overall, the results show that NMBM has made good strides in enabling high level of resilience in its day to day operations. The findings of this study suggest that urban resilience is a continuous process that facilitates engagement leading to a dialogue and deeper understanding of a city.

This thesis argues for the significance of urban resilience in sustainable urban development as well as for the necessity for practitioners to engage with this new emerging concept. It does so with a theoretical contribution to the definition of urban resilience, and with case studies analysis that help develop practical pathways to its attainment. For this purpose, the author has used a particular existing method (the Urban Futures method) developed within the EPSRC-funded four-year Urban Futures research programme. The author, as a member of the inter-disciplinary research team and of the sub-team of the ‘Surface Built Environment and Open Spaces’ work package, was instrumental to the development of that method, particularly for those aspects that pertain specifically to urban design and planning. In the section 5.3.3 the personal contribution of the author is described in detail. Moreover, interviews with practitioners presented in the chapter four, which constitute an essential part of the thesis, were conducted together with Dr. Maria Caserio, another team member of the work package mentioned above. She contributed to select interviewees, carry out the interviews, draft the transcripts, and discuss findings. However, the principal input in all these phases of the research comes exclusively from the author. The case studies presented in chapter six were also developed by the author throughout the course of the research programme. The chapter is based on papers that have been published or accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals (Caputo et al, 2012; Caputo et al (forthcoming)), and on conference papers accepted for oral presentation (Caputo and Gaterell, 2011; Caputo and Gaterell, 2012) in two important international conferences: the Sustainable buildings conference - Helsinki, 2011; and the 1st International Conference on Urban Sustainability and Resilience - London, 2012. Likewise, chapter five introducing the Urban Futures method as well as the process of selection and modification of the future scenarios that are at its heart, is based on papers published in peer-reviewed journals, and on a book dedicated to the Urban Futures method printed by the Building Research Establishment, which the author has co-authored (Hunt et al, 2012; Boyko et al, 2012; Lombardi et al, 2012). Finally, chapter three and four presenting the literature review and the interviews to practitioners are based on an article submitted to a peer-reviewed journal, which the author has revised in response to reviewers’ comments and that is in the course of resubmission (Caputo, et al - Designing a resilient urban system. Submitted to Journal of Urbanism).

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD<br>Food security is the ability to secure an adequate daily supply of food that is affordable, hygienic and nutritious and it has become a chronic development problem in most urban areas of the global South. This thesis contributes to the urban food security debate by exploring the connection between drought and food security in urban Swaziland. Specifically, the study examines the effects of the 2015/16 drought on access to food in the informal settlement of kaKhoza in the city of Manzini. The study used climate change and food security conceptual framework to interrogate the connection between drought and food security in the urban context. The framework shows how climate change variables like extreme weather events (e.g. drought) impact food security drivers such as agricultural management, demographic, cultural and socio-economic variables, and how these drivers impact the four components of food security (food availability, access, utilization and stability of access). The study drew from both the positivistic and interpretivistic paradigms and adopted a case study approach based on the mixed methods research design. Data was collected from the informal settlement of kaKhoza using a three step procedure involving a questionnaire survey, in-depth interviews, key informant interviews and focus group discussions. A questionnaire was administered to 145 heads of households using systematic sampling technique. Purposive sampling was employed to select 30 and 8 respondents for in-depth and key informant interviews, respectively. The researcher also engaged the observation method approach to capture additional information about effects of drought as observed in the study site. The researcher adhered to all legal and ethical procedures during the data collection and research writing processes. As such, participation in the research was strictly voluntary without any form of coercion, whatsoever. The results reveal that drought contributes to food insecurity in low income urban spaces by reducing the quantity and frequency of free or low priced rural-urban food transfers. As a result, low income households have had to rely more on food purchases, thereby making them increasingly food insecure. The problem is compounded by reverse food flows from urban to rural areas. The drought induced food price hike, compelled many low-income households to be less dependent on the supermarket as the main source of their food, and to buy increased amounts of food from the vegetable markets and tuck shops. Residents employ different coping mechanisms to deal with drought induced food shortage, some of which are too risky and further expose them to food insecurity. These coping strategies include: skipping meals, begging, use of informal credit, over reliance on informal markets and selling of sexual favours, which expose respondents to HIV and AIDS infection.