Photo by Anthony May.
Grosvenor has published “Resilient Cities”, a report on resilience as a combination of vulnerability and adaptiveness.
In general, says the report, “US cities do not score particularly well in our vulnerability rankings. Inequality in US cities leads to social tension, utilities lack investment, and urban sprawl leads to the over consumption of land resource. US cities are currently weak on access to energy but that situation is changing fast due to shale gas exploitation. The strong US ranking is due to adaptive capacity, where resources, public accountability of elected officials and the technology of the US are dominating factors. This suggests that US cities will continue to see a pattern of effective public intervention, but often only after a major shock has occurred.”
Grosvenor ranks Seattle as the 11th-most adaptive and resilient city in the world. The scores were based on a combination of factors: form of governance, institutional capacity, technical and academic capacity, disaster preparedness and funding resources.
While this report is ultimately aimed at the financial sector, it is fairly concise and worth a read.
In general, says the report, “US cities do not score particularly well in our vulnerability rankings. Inequality in US cities leads to social tension, utilities lack investment, and urban sprawl leads to the over consumption of land resource. US cities are currently weak on access to energy but that situation is changing fast due to shale gas exploitation. The strong US ranking is due to adaptive capacity, where resources, public accountability of elected officials and the technology of the US are dominating factors. This suggests that US cities will continue to see a pattern of effective public intervention, but often only after a major shock has occurred.”
Grosvenor ranks Seattle as the 11th-most adaptive and resilient city in the world. The scores were based on a combination of factors: form of governance, institutional capacity, technical and academic capacity, disaster preparedness and funding resources.
While this report is ultimately aimed at the financial sector, it is fairly concise and worth a read.
