Cities are looking for ways to prepare for the increasing number of physical, social and economic challenges that threaten their growth and development in the 21st century. 100 Resilient Cities (RC) — Pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation — was set up to help cities around the world respond to these challenges.
Kyoto is the latest city to launch an integrated urban resilience planning process to build a resilient, sustainable and prosperous future for their city. AECOM is proud to have supported the strategy that guides one of the oldest cities in the world in strengthening its ability to thrive amidst these 21st century challenges.
As a strategic advisor and project manager for the cities participating in 100RC, AECOM helps facilitate diverse stakeholder engagement workshops to better understand perceptions, needs and risks. We carried out technical analyses in key priority areas, helped to identify a list of potential actions and assisted in developing the final strategy.
The 100RC integrated resilience planning method identifies interdependencies between major components of a city: people and organisations; places and infrastructure; the economy; and networks and knowledge workers. This method harnesses connections to help cities cope and recover after sudden shock like infrastructure failure, earthquakes and extreme weather, which cities are vulnerable to. The method also addresses long-term trends, or stresses, such as unemployment and sea-level rise that undermine cities’ systems and increase their vulnerability. The planning framework is also closely aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and New Urban Agenda.
Kyoto launched its resilience strategy on 18 March 2019 and joins one other Japanese city in becoming leaders in urban resilience in Japan.
The strategy includes 66 projects that the city is now implementing. These projects range across initiatives to increase social equity and inclusion, to local economic development and diversification, to building resilience of hard and green infrastructure in the city.
The strategy has also established ground-breaking collaboration mechanisms across government departments and sectors in the city that enable a collaborative culture for resilience – building.
“AECOM team has played a critical role in bringing strategic thinking which delivered on 100 Resilient cities resilience principles and contextualizing the broad strategy process in a complex Kyoto city setting.” – Saurabh Gaidhani, Associate Director, 100 Resilient Cities