Urban resilience
What it is
Borrowing a concept from ecology, urban resilience reframed planning around a city's capacity to absorb shocks and adapt to chronic stresses rather than to deliver a fixed end-state plan. The Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities programme, launched in 2013, funded member cities to appoint a Chief Resilience Officer and produce a citywide resilience strategy. The model spread the role and the strategy template across dozens of cities worldwide. It widened attention from sudden disasters to slow-burn stresses such as poverty, ageing infrastructure and water insecurity.
Why it matters
It shifted planning from fixed, end-state masterplans toward adaptive, ongoing risk management for climate change and disaster. Critics counter that the concept is vague and can depoliticise hard questions about who bears risk and who pays to reduce it.
Plans it shaped
- Toronto Waterfront – East Bayfront & West Don Lands (2005–)
- IBA Hamburg 2006–2013 (Wilhelmsburg etc.) (2006–2013)
- Los Angeles River Revitalization Master Plan (LARRMP) (2007/2022)
- Vancouver Southeast False Creek / Olympic Village (2007–2010)
- NYC PlaNYC / OneNYC (2007/2015/2021)
- Tianjin Eco-City (Sino–Singapore) (2008–)
- Stockholm Royal Seaport (Norra Djurgårdsstaden) (2009–)
- Rio de Janeiro Porto Maravilha (2009–)
- Incheon Songdo IBD (later phases) (2010s–)
- Abu Dhabi Estidama Pearl Communities (2010s–)
- Asunción Coastal Defense & Costanera Plan (2010s–)
- Lagos Model City Plans & Eko Atlantic (2010s–)