The most resilient cities in the world, including six in the U.S., have attributes that would enable them to recover better than others from devastating natural disasters.
A report by Grosvenor examined 50 major cities around the world and ranked them on their vulnerability and adaptive capacity in terms of their infrastructure, community, resources, environment, and climate.
Two-thirds of people will live in urban areas by 2050, according to U.N. estimates, so city planners face daunting challenges to cope with the impact of climate change and population growth. The top three resilient cities are Canadian (Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary), and six of the top 10 are from the U.S., led by Chicago and Pittsburgh.
The report examines five categories of vulnerability: climate, environment, resources, infrastructure, and community. The five categories of adaptability include governance, institutions, technical capacity, planning systems, and funding structures.
“Resources,” encompasses a city’s access to energy, food, and water. “Funding structures” covers the ability to borrow and tap into national and international money.
“The strong U.S. ranking is due to adaptive capacity, where resources, public accountability of elected officials, and the technology of the U.S. are dominating factors,” the report says. “This suggests that U.S. cities will continue to see a pattern of effective public intervention, but often only after a major shock has occurred.”“The least resilient cities are the ones facing the greatest pressure to grow,” the report says. “High rates of population growth, while beneficial to production and culture in the long term, are likely to challenge improved adaptive capacity in the short term.”
(http://www.fastcoexist.com/3029442/the-10-most-resilient-cities-in-the-world)
Related Stories
| May 17, 2012
New standard for Structural Insulated Panels under development
ASTM International and NTA, Inc. are developing a new standard for Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) that would create a path for U.S. manufacturers to meet the requirements of the Canadian building code.
| May 17, 2012
Webinar: ‘What Energy Codes and Standards Are Adopted Where and by Whom’
A June 12 webinar by the Construction Specifications Institute will outline what energy codes and standards have been adopted in each of the states for commercial buildings, and what is anticipated to be adopted in the future.
| May 17, 2012
California Governor orders new green standards on state buildings
California Gov. Jerry Brown issued an executive order recently that calls for all new or renovated state buildings of more than 10,000 sf to achieve LEED Silver or higher and incorporate clean, onsite power generation.
| May 17, 2012
New Zealand stadium roof collapse blamed on snow, construction defects
Heavy snowfall, construction defects, and design problems contributed to the collapse of the Stadium Southland roof in New Zealand in September 2010, a report has found.
| May 17, 2012
OSHA launches fall prevention campaign
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently launched an educational campaign to prevent deadly falls in the construction industry.
| May 15, 2012
Suffolk selected for Rosenwald Elementary modernization project
The 314-student station elementary school will undergo extensive modernization.
| May 10, 2012
Chapter 6 Energy Codes + Reconstructed Buildings: 2012 and Beyond
Our experts analyze the next generation of energy and green building codes and how they impact reconstruction.
| May 10, 2012
Resilience should be considered a sustainability factor
Since a sustainable building is one you don't have to rebuild, some building sustainability experts believe adding points for "resilience" to storms and earthquakes to the LEED sustainability rating tool makes sense.
