This project has recived funding from European Comission by means of Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, under Grant Agreement no. 700174
This project has recived funding from European Comission by means of Horizon 2020, the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, under Grant Agreement no. 700174
Fine for the big; challenging for the small
Resilience has crept into the world of big cities, stimulated by an increasing prevalence of unfortunate incidents that tend to attract press attention – fires, floods, heatwaves, stabbings, terrorist activities, and multiple other forms of disruption. And it is heartening to see the increased attention from these larger cities on how they can address these challenges – a desire to stay out of the press, and more, thankfully!
There is an increased recognition that these very visible shocks are clearly to be avoided or mitigated, and that the less-obvious and yet potentially more damaging chronic issues like climate change impacts and societal change are also rather important to address. The shift from reaction to prediction, and an ever-increasing reliance on systemic integrated and intelligence-led approaches, gives us more confidence that the chances of, and implications from these untoward events will be minimised.
That is undoubtedly good – for the bigger cities. However, let’s pause for a moment and think about where most people actually live. And the answer is not in the big cities – for which there are few (thus a smaller and perhaps easier target to approach). in most European countries, and indeed most countries around the world, most of the population live in the smaller cities, towns, and indeed villages. What we consider as ‘big’ or ‘small’ is open to much interpretation, as indeed what we mean by ‘city’! So, for the sake of simplicity let’s assume ‘city’ as a generic term for a urban conurbation of some form; and small as perhaps below 300,000 population. That leaves many thousands of places and many millions of people to consider in most countries.
How much time and attention is placed on ensuring the ‘lot’ of these little cities is suitably catered for when it comes to resilience?
What does it feel like for a small city tackling resilience?
Smaller cities face a particular set of challenges when it comes to resilience:
On a more positive note – what ‘Small Giants’ can do about urban resilience
It’s not all bad for smaller cities though. They do have some potential advantages. The more progressive ones with passionate capable leadership can make decisions fast – those ‘Small Giants [1]’ can lead the way for others. Leaders of smaller cities also tend to be closer to their businesses and residents, so the all-important societal cohesion, which is a fundamental plank of resilience, can be more ‘tuned for action’.
Various standards bodies are now realising that they have a vital role to play to provide trusted guidance for city (political) leaders, infrastructure and service managers. A good example of this is the recent work of BSI that – with the initiative and leadership from the Cabinet Office – engaged with 50 cities across the UK to deeply understand their needs. This has informed the production of two documents – a guide for leaders, and a management toolkit for those that run the city. We must sing from the rooftops the merits of such initiatives, that help build capacity at the top, and ‘tool’ a (small) city for action.
And finally, and not unimportantly, EU-funded projects like RESCCUE are focused on developing a toolkit of methods and approaches that cities of any size can trust work and thus apply.
Interested in more?
Author: Graham Colclough, UrbanDNA, graham.colclough@urbandna.eu +44.771.031.3944
[1] ‘Small Giants’ is a specific initiative of the European Innovation Partnership for Smart Cities & Communities (EIP-SCC); that included resilience in the portfolio of focused issues – see here