The term “urban resilience” describes how cities withstand shocks and recover. This topic is explored in this collection of papers, with a range of perspectives from mathematics to case studies.
The initial paper gives a taxonomy of resilience based on three dimensions: type of shock, target system, and type of recovery. One type of recovery, for example, is transformative; Japan recovered from World War II destruction by becoming a democratic state. The paper presents a matrix, a guide to the rest of the book, showing how 25 strategies correlate with 27 resilience concepts.
The next book section deals with planning. The first paper describes a model of Tokyo based on a one-kilometer grid and shows the implications of three planning models (business as usual, compact city, and wise shrinking) on outcomes such as flood damage, emissions, or heat island. Two papers follow using regression in planning to deal with urban heat wave risk and flood risk.
The next section focuses on response strategies. One paper analyzes Twitter messages during and after a major flood in Thailand to understand perception-based responses to disasters. A second paper uses graph theory to optimally isolate a part of the electric grid when that part fails. In another paper, the resilience of an electrical system consisting of independent household photovoltaic installations is simulated. The layout of New York City buildings and their width/height ratio does not promote electric system resilience; what configuration would? A paper reviews how aspects of modern urban living, high connectedness of individuals in particular, augment the spread of epidemics. Monitoring and preparedness are called for.
A fourth section deals with resilience measurement, and the first paper dissects six urban models based on strategy, data, structure, analysis, and results. A discrete state machine model with performance metrics is presented, which estimates the resilience of a system. Unemployment in a Finnish city is the example used. Another paper delineates the multiple dimensions of resilience, working toward a dimension/strategy matrix. The dimension categories are: material resources, society, economy, infrastructure, and governance.
The final section describes future challenges. One is “bringing people back in” to the design. Another challenge is finding strategies for development. A strategy proposed is “regenerative sustainability,” considered regenerative because it gives back more than is input.
There is something in this collection for almost any reader, which means some readers will find some papers not helpful. Evidently many of the figures were taken directly from conference presentations, so they are difficult to read. The reader is sent to the Internet for clearer renditions, but I could not find the papers easily. The editor comments that the book is intended to show “the depth and breadth” of urban resilience, and the book did that for me.
