The zoning policies that planners introduced to create vibrant and resilient mixed-use neighbourhoods have had the opposite effect, as services and residential developments crowd out light industry.
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Articles on urban resilience
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When the pandemic put tourism on hold, many residents heaved a sigh of relief. Will hasty economic recovery plans scupper our chance for a rethink?
Infrastructure is often seen as the main way to reduce the impacts of climate-related disasters like floods and drought. But cities are complex systems with many factors affecting their resilience.
We can design parks, open space and public infrastructure to hold excess water when flood strikes. That means better control of where floodwater ends up, reducing the risk to lives and property.
The disasters have come one after another. While they may not be entirely preventable, we can take many practical steps tailored to local needs and conditions to reduce the impacts on our cities.
Melbourne and Sydney are members of 100 Resilient CIties, which the Rockefeller Foundation has said it will no longer fund. So what has the global network achieved? And what can we learn from this?
Amid fears that parts of Townsville and other Australian cities might become “uninsurable”, making urban areas more resilient and adaptable to flooding is becoming more urgent.
Urbanisation is the main reason for rising temperatures and water pollution, but receives little attention in discussions about the health of water streams, reefs and oceans.
Australia’s coastal settlements are highly exposed to the impacts of climate change. Climate-resilient urban landscapes that can cope with large amounts of water need to become the new normal.
Ghana needs to deal with the underlying causes of floods and prepare people for them.
Taking this step may improve the quality of life for vulnerable people and reduce the amount of air conditioning they use, making their neighborhoods less prone to power outages.
After disasters, communities often push to rebuild as quickly as possible. A public health expert says they should aim higher and fix problems that exist pre-storm.
What decisions can we make today to reduce the future risk of hazards like floods and fire? Particularly in a time of climate change, modelling various plausible futures helps us plan for uncertainty.
It’s not just about rebuilding infrastructure after storms: Cities need to systematically rethink their knowledge systems which are at the heart of urban resilience.
Yes, Puerto Rico and any other storm-vulnerable location could benefit from on-site solar and battery backup, but it’s unrealistic to say these microgrids are enough to power the island.
Three atmospheric scientists from Texas say Hurricane Harvey shows how the country needs to adapt to the effects of climate change and cut carbon emissions.
Developing principles to create cities that are good for all is not easy. Who decides what is good? And for whom? We desperately need a big and general public discussion about this.
Achieving the goal of sustainable cities depends on rolling back the market after decades of privatisation and deregulation.
If resilience efforts don’t consider justice issues, they will end up making those who are the most in need the least resilient.
Disaster preparations often focus on gear and logistics, but research in Japan after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami shows that strong social ties played a key role in helping communities rebound.
Top contributors
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Director, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, The University of Melbourne
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Professor and Inaugural Judith Neilson Chair in Architecture, UNSW Sydney
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Architect/Urbanist and landscape planner - Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Built Environment, UNSW Sydney
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Professorial Fellow, The University of Melbourne
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Professor, RMIT University
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Assistant Director (International) - Melbourne Centre for Cities, The University of Melbourne
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Associate Professor in Architectural Engineering, Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain)
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Paul James is a Friend of The Conversation.
Professor of Globalization and Cultural Diversity, Western Sydney University
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Professor of Global Urban Politics and Director, Melbourne Centre for Cities, The University of Melbourne
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Michael Howes is a Friend of The Conversation.
Associate Professor, Griffith University
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Associate Professor, Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience, University of Florida
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Associate Professor and Head, School, Built Environment, Queensland University of Technology
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Research Fellow, School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering, University of Adelaide
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Associate Researcher, African Climate & Development Initiative and Climate System Analysis Group, University of Cape Town
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Professor and Director, Climate Science Center, Texas Tech University
