Making Cities Resilient: from awareness to implementation

The concept of resilience is now widely adopted across academic and policy debates as a way of reducing society's vulnerability to threats posed by natural and human induced hazards. The “resilient city” is a comparatively new term, but is now increasingly used in disaster related literature and policy documents. However, its theoretical base is less well developed. The “resilient city” can be defined in different ways. One such definition is that it is “a sustainable network of physical systems (constructed and natural environmental components) and human communities” (Godschalk, 2003). It can be further elaborated by identifying physical systems as built roads, buildings, infrastructure, communications, and energy facilities as well as waterways, soils, topography, geology, and other natural systems.