A Framework for Resilient Urban Futures

AbstractThe Urban Systems Lab (USL) Dataviz Platform is an interactive web application to visualize Social, Ecological, and Technological Systems (SETS). This platform is being used to encourage participatory processes, produce new knowledge, and facilitate collaborative analysis within nine Urban Resilience to Weather-related Extremes (UREx) Sustainability Research Network cities. It allows seamless shifts across contexts, scales, and perspectives for analysis within the SETS framework. How is digital space conceptualized for urban analysis and interventions? What is the capacity for reciprocal relationships between digital and physical space? How do we visually understand urban systems and complex spatial relationships? This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the application stack and the different representational categories embedded in the Dataviz Platform. Offering a common visual language to various stakeholders, we explore new ground as we believe it has the potential to change how we think about, plan, and design our cities. (“Map devices such as a frame, scale, orientation, projection, indexing and naming reveal artificial geographies that remain unavailable to human eyes.” (Corner,.Cosgrove (ed), Mappings, Reaktion Books, London, 1999)

Download Full-text

Multiple hazards under future UK Climate Projections

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-13408 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Freya Garry ◽

Dan Bernie

Keyword(s):

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Climate Projections ◽

Model Simulations ◽

Multiple Hazards ◽

Ensemble Simulations ◽

Climate Resilience ◽

Weather Events ◽

Risk Projection ◽

Extreme Hazards ◽

The Uk

When two or more extreme weather events occur either simultaneously or in close succession, there may be more severe societal and economic impacts than when extreme hazards occur alone. Impacts may also cascade across different sectors of society or amplify impacts in another sector. Perturbed parameter ensemble simulations of projections to 2080 have been generated at the UK Met Office to cover the UK at high spatial (12 km or 2.2 km) and temporal resolution (daily or sub-daily) resolution as part of the &#8220;UK Climate Projections&#8221;. We use the regional 12 km model simulations at daily resolution to consider how the frequency, duration and spatial extent of multiple extreme hazard events in the UK changes over the 21st&#160;century. We will show case studies of multiple extreme hazard pairings that pose a risk to UK sectors, for example, the risk of hot and dry weather to agricultural harvests. By working with stakeholders that have a good understanding of their vulnerabilities and exposure, we consider multiple extreme events in a risk projection framework. This work is funded under the Strategic Priority Fund for UK Climate Resilience.

Download Full-text

Bamboo Fale: Climate of Change

10.26686/wgtn.17067734 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Emily Cayford

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Pacific Islands ◽

Storm Surges ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Developed Country ◽

Sea Levels ◽

Climate Resilience ◽

Weather Events ◽

The Pacific ◽

The World

The world is currently sitting on the brink of a massive upheaval as Climate Change continues to intensify. At this stage, there is no apparent turning back: the only remaining option is to adapt. While many countries are already feeling the effects, the most vulnerable lie within the Pacific Islands. With 70% of the Samoan population living along their coastline (The World Bank, 2016), the country is identified as one of the most vulnerable Pacific Islands. It is prone to high waves and storm surges, along with tropical cyclones, which destroy livelihoods and housing, as well as claiming lives. The traditional architecture of Samoa was originally built to withstand such weather events, but has not been adapting to resist the increased cyclone intensity and rising sea levels. The materials and building practices currently used within Samoa do not have the properties to resist these extreme weather events. Western building practises have been introduced and into the Samoan construction industry, but has not yet successfully been integrated. Combinations of traditional and Western building practises are, instead, resulting in buildings more vulnerable than ever. This issue remains unresolved, with unsuitable housing remaining one of the largest dilemmas currently faced by Samoa’s inhabitants. Samoa recently graduated from the classification: Least Developed Country, to be classified as a Developing Country (Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience). This places Samoa as one of the more developed nations of the Pacific, therefore encouraging Samoa to take the lead in resilience to the ever imposing effects of Climate Change. Samoa has a close relationship with both New Zealand and Australia and therefore has access to building expertise, education and materials. Why, then, is Samoa so lacking in architectural resilience to the effects of Climate Change? This paper endeavours to investigate this gap and, in turn provide a potential resolution. These solutions could aid other Pacific countries as well as encouraging further architectural resilience that can then be mirrored by the remaining, vulnerable countries of the Pacific. This thesis first investigates the question: “Why has Samoan culture not developed stronger architectural resilience against Climate Change?” This thesis then evolves to question: “How can Samoan architecture be hybridised to influence increased architectural resilience against Climate Change?”

Download Full-text

Assessing Future Resilience, Equity, and Sustainability in Scenario Planning

Resilient Urban Futures - The Urban Book Series ◽

10.1007/978-3-030-63131-4_8 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 113-127

Author(s):

Marta Berbés-Blázquez ◽

Nancy B. Grimm ◽

Elizabeth M. Cook ◽

David M. Iwaniec ◽

Tischa A. Muñoz-Erickson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Complex Adaptive Systems ◽

Adaptive Systems ◽

Assessment Tool ◽

Scenario Planning ◽

Research Network ◽

Municipal Governments ◽

Weather Events ◽

Sustainability Research ◽

Complex Adaptive ◽

The Usa

AbstractIn the absence of strong international agreements, many municipal governments are leading efforts to build resilience to climate change in general and to extreme weather events in particular. However, it is notoriously difficult to guide and activate processes of change in complex adaptive systems such as cities. Participatory scenario planning with city professionals and members of civil society provides an opportunity to coproduce positive visions of the future. Yet, not all visions are created equal. In this chapter, we introduce the Resilience, Equity, and Sustainability Qualitative (RESQ) assessment tool that we have applied to compare positive scenario visions for cities in the USA and Latin America. We use the tool to examine the visions of the two desert cities in the UrbanResilience to Extreme Events Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN), which are Hermosillo (Mexico) and Phoenix (United States).

Download Full-text

Setting the Stage for Co-Production

Resilient Urban Futures - The Urban Book Series ◽

10.1007/978-3-030-63131-4_7 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 99-111

Author(s):

Elizabeth M. Cook ◽

Marta Berbés-Blázquez ◽

Lelani M. Mannetti ◽

Nancy B. Grimm ◽

David M. Iwaniec ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Production Process ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Research Network ◽

Urban Resilience ◽

Sustainability Research

AbstractParticipatory scenario visioning aims to expose, integrate, and reconcile perspectives and expectations about a sustainable, resilient future from a variety of actors and stakeholders. This chapter considers the settings in which transdisciplinary participatory visioning takes place, highlighting lessons learned from the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN). It reflects on the benefits of engaging in the co-production process and the challenges that must be considered amid this process.

Download Full-text

Using wild relatives and related species to build climate resilience in Brassica crops

Theoretical and Applied Genetics ◽

10.1007/s00122-021-03793-3 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Daniela Quezada-Martinez ◽

Charles P. Addo Nyarko ◽

Sarah V. Schiessl ◽

Annaliese S. Mason

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Crop Production ◽

Wild Relatives ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Linkage Drag ◽

Crop Species ◽

Introgression Breeding ◽

Climate Resilience ◽

Weather Events ◽

Crop Germplasm

AbstractClimate change will have major impacts on crop production: not just increasing drought and heat stress, but also increasing insect and disease loads and the chance of extreme weather events and further adverse conditions. Often, wild relatives show increased tolerances to biotic and abiotic stresses, due to reduced stringency of selection for yield and yield-related traits under optimum conditions. One possible strategy to improve resilience in our modern-day crop cultivars is to utilize wild relative germplasm in breeding, and attempt to introgress genetic factors contributing to greater environmental tolerances from these wild relatives into elite crop types. However, this approach can be difficult, as it relies on factors such as ease of hybridization and genetic distance between the source and target, crossover frequencies and distributions in the hybrid, and ability to select for desirable introgressions while minimizing linkage drag. In this review, we outline the possible effects that climate change may have on crop production, introduce the Brassica crop species and their wild relatives, and provide an index of useful traits that are known to be present in each of these species that may be exploitable through interspecific hybridization-based approaches. Subsequently, we outline how introgression breeding works, what factors affect the success of this approach, and how this approach can be optimized so as to increase the chance of recovering the desired introgression lines. Our review provides a working guide to the use of wild relatives and related crop germplasm to improve biotic and abiotic resistances in Brassica crop species.

Download Full-text

Creating the Conditions for Climate Resilience: A Community-Based Approach in Canumay East, Philippines

Urban Planning ◽

10.17645/up.v6i4.4536 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 (4) ◽

pp. 298-308 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Corrine Cash

Keyword(s):

Private Sector ◽

Land Rights ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Small Scale ◽

Community Members ◽

Community Based ◽

Climate Resilience ◽

The People ◽

Weather Events ◽

Climate Action

People who reside in informal settlements in the Global South are most vulnerable to extreme weather events and their consequences, such as flooding, landslides, and fires. Those located in coastal areas face severe challenges from seasonal and typhoon-induced flooding. Research shows that uncertain land rights exacerbate community vulnerability because residents are under constant threat of eviction by private sector actors or the state. Individual and community upgrading is rarely possible in such a situation. This article focuses on the efforts to secure tenure and upgrade their community by the residents of Sitio Libis, located in Canumay East, City of Valenzuela, Philippines. The study demonstrates that while community-based approaches require skills and capacities of community members, enabling conditions created by government and/or NGOs are required for transformational outcomes. While the people of Sitio Libis did not conceptualize their efforts in terms of climate change adaptation, their success suggests the possibility for smart partnerships among state-civil society/private sector actors to emerge in support of small-scale climate action.

Download Full-text

Role of the Architects in Creating Building and Urban Resilience

Journal of International Business Research and Marketing ◽

10.18775/jibrm.1849-8558.2015.25.3002 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 2 (5) ◽

pp. 14-17

Author(s):

Ferhat Bejtullahu

Keyword(s):

Natural Disaster ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Global Level ◽

Urban Resilience ◽

Natural Conditions ◽

Weather Events ◽

The Social ◽

Build Environment

Extreme weather events are increasing in intensity and frequency. While the social component of resilience with all its dimensions depend on all citizens, spatial and environmental components with all their dimensions depend on more from architects than from other professionals. In this context, architects have a responsibility to evaluate, design (create) and maintain resilient build environment that can better adapt to natural conditions and that can more readily absorb and recover city from different disasters. The objective of this research is to identify the role of architects in creating the building as well as the quality of urban resilience that can be implemented in a variety of contexts at national, regional or global level. Conclusions serve as a new concept to future researchers in this field and to all regional stakeholders engaged in the process of evaluating the risk related to the natural disaster. Also, it creates professional strategies for improvement of building and urban resilience.

Download Full-text

Bamboo Fale: Climate of Change

10.26686/wgtn.17067734.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Emily Cayford

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Pacific Islands ◽

Storm Surges ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Developed Country ◽

Sea Levels ◽

Climate Resilience ◽

Weather Events ◽

The Pacific ◽

The World

The world is currently sitting on the brink of a massive upheaval as Climate Change continues to intensify. At this stage, there is no apparent turning back: the only remaining option is to adapt. While many countries are already feeling the effects, the most vulnerable lie within the Pacific Islands. With 70% of the Samoan population living along their coastline (The World Bank, 2016), the country is identified as one of the most vulnerable Pacific Islands. It is prone to high waves and storm surges, along with tropical cyclones, which destroy livelihoods and housing, as well as claiming lives. The traditional architecture of Samoa was originally built to withstand such weather events, but has not been adapting to resist the increased cyclone intensity and rising sea levels. The materials and building practices currently used within Samoa do not have the properties to resist these extreme weather events. Western building practises have been introduced and into the Samoan construction industry, but has not yet successfully been integrated. Combinations of traditional and Western building practises are, instead, resulting in buildings more vulnerable than ever. This issue remains unresolved, with unsuitable housing remaining one of the largest dilemmas currently faced by Samoa’s inhabitants. Samoa recently graduated from the classification: Least Developed Country, to be classified as a Developing Country (Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience). This places Samoa as one of the more developed nations of the Pacific, therefore encouraging Samoa to take the lead in resilience to the ever imposing effects of Climate Change. Samoa has a close relationship with both New Zealand and Australia and therefore has access to building expertise, education and materials. Why, then, is Samoa so lacking in architectural resilience to the effects of Climate Change? This paper endeavours to investigate this gap and, in turn provide a potential resolution. These solutions could aid other Pacific countries as well as encouraging further architectural resilience that can then be mirrored by the remaining, vulnerable countries of the Pacific. This thesis first investigates the question: “Why has Samoan culture not developed stronger architectural resilience against Climate Change?” This thesis then evolves to question: “How can Samoan architecture be hybridised to influence increased architectural resilience against Climate Change?”

Download Full-text

Mobilizing transdisciplinary collaborations: collective reflections on decentering academia in knowledge production

Global Sustainability ◽

10.1017/sus.2019.2 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Gabriela Alonso-Yanez ◽

Lily House-Peters ◽

Martin Garcia-Cartagena ◽

Sebastian Bonelli ◽

Ignacio Lorenzo-Arana ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Environmental Degradation ◽

Knowledge Production ◽

Real World ◽

Biodiversity Loss ◽

Extreme Weather Events ◽

Global Sustainability ◽

Government Organizations ◽

Weather Events ◽

Sustainability Research ◽

Sustainability Challenges

Non-technical summaryGlobal sustainability challenges and their impact on society have been well-documented in recent years, such as more intense extreme weather events, environmental degradation, as well as ecosystem and biodiversity loss. These challenges require a united effort of scientists from multiple disciplines with stakeholders, including government, non-government organizations, corporate industry, and members of the general public, with the aim to generate integrated knowledge with real-world applicability. Yet, there continues to be challenges for these types of collaboration. In this commentary, we describe processes of collective unlearning that serve to decenter academia in collaborations leading to a more equitable positioning of practitioners engaged in collaborative global sustainability research.

Download Full-text