Speakers
Description
Crises and disasters continue to pose enormous challenges to urban development strategies. To address these challenges with urban planning tools, the planning paradigm of urban resilience is increasingly discussed. Urban resilience describes the measurability of urban systems to maintain continuity across shocks and stresses, while adapting and transforming towards sustainability (Urban Resilience Hub 2022; Figueiredo et al. 2018; Kurth 2022). Shocks and stresses come in different forms, such as the climate crisis, rapid urbanisation, or disruptive external events such as natural disasters or pandemics. It is important not only to create resilient cities, but also to adapt to future crises and transform cities for sustainable development. As the challenges are developing and accumulating dynamically, it can be assumed that crises will no longer be seen as exceptional singular events in the future, but as the ‘normality’ of everyday urban life (Kegler 2022)
Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and hybrid attacks on EU states since 2022 pose a new challenge to urban resilience in Europe, particularly for Ukrainian cities: destruction of urban structures, critical infrastructure and displacement of residents not only affects daily life but also has long-term consequences. To cope with these consequences, the concept of urban resilience needs to be expanded to include the threat of wars of aggression with "urbicide" strategies to destroy cities completely (Mezentsev, Mezentsev 2022).
Short-term and long-term strategies need to be developed for cities in Ukraine: immediate protection and resilience solutions need to be found for the ongoing threats of an ongoing war. At the same time, long-term strategies must be developed that consider the aftermath of the war and link it to other global challenges such as climate change. (Birkmann et.al. 2020). The authors are involved in the projects “Ukraine digital” from DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) and “Strengthening Urban Resilience in the Areas of Supply Infrastructure and Housing” from GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), to develop a strategy to implement criteria of urban resilience into urban regeneration strategies. The following aspects will be discussed in the paper:
- Identifying spatial risks by analyzing different criteria of hazards, exposure and vulnerability: how to reduce exposure and vulnerability in context of war threats (e.g. accessibility to safe spaces), but also in relation to the effects of climate change, demographic change, critical infrastructure, etc.
- Localisation of "critical spots" as the most vulnerable areas within the model cities analysed by synthesizing, overlaying and evaluating spatial criteria and indicators of identified risks from a planning perspective.
- Development of spatial principles of urban resilience within the critical spots: Redundancy, Efficiency, Robustness, Flexibility, Diversity.
- Implementation of resilience criteria in comprehensive urban development concept.
References
Sources:
Birkmann, J., Sauter, H., Jamshed, A., Sorg, L., Fleischhauer, M., Sandholz, S., Wannewitz, M., Greiving, S., Bueter, B., Schneider, M. & Garschagen, M. (2020): Strengthening risk-informed decision-making: scenarios for human vulnerability and exposure to extreme events. In: Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 29, No. 5. S. 663-679. doi.org/10.1108/DPM-05-2020-0147
DAAD 2024: Ukraine digital. https://www.daad.de/en/information-services-for-higher-education-institutions/further-information-on-daad-programmes/ukraine-digital/. Access: 09.01.2025
Figueiredo, L., T. Honiden and A. Schumann (2018), “Indicators for Resilient Cities”, OECD Regional Development Working Papers, No. 2018/02, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/6f1f6065-en
GIZ 2024: Strengthening Urban Resilience in the Areas of Supply Infrastructure and Housing. https://www.giz.de/en/worldwide/137964.html
Kurth, Detlef (2022): City Models and Preventive Planning Strategies for Resilient Cities in Germany. In: Urban Planning, Vol 7, No 4 (2022),90-95, 6 S. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v7i4.5803
Kegler, Harald 2021: Resilienz. Strategien und Perspektiven für die widerstandsfähige und lernende Stadt. Basel
Mezentsev, K., Mezentsev, O. (2022). "War and the City: Lessons from Urbicide in Ukraine". Geographical Journal. 93 (3), DOI:10.12657/czageo-93-20
Urban Resilience Hub. 2022. What is urban resilience? https://urbanresiliencehub.org. Access: 09.01.2025
| Keywords | urban resilience, urban regeneration, urban transformation |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | No |
