Page 57 - U4SSC Simple ways to be smart

3.5.2 Developing resilience – knowledge

The first step towards developing resilience is to better understand the potential for crises in
each specific context. Smart tools that improve what cities know about their current state as well
as real-time information that helps cities to observe the impact of interventions as they happen,
better equip cities for absorbing shocks and to find effective adaptation and recovery solutions
faster. A central database and dashboards with data visualisation tools can help planners to use
geospatial mapping to understand conditions in the city and to make better-informed decisions.

Using technology to collect data reduces the cost of gathering data and provides cities and their
occupants with real-time information. This information can be used to improve existing systems in
ways that enhance the sustainability and resilience of cities. Information can be used to influence
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behaviour by, for example, redirecting people to different transit routes, or to use less energy
and water, or to adopt preventive health-care measures that reduce the strains on healthcare
systems. Data collected from sensors integrated into city infrastructure can be used to manage
service provision crises, as was the case in the Cape Town water crisis of 2017, which used sensors
integrated into its water system and electrical meters. Data from social media sites can be used
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to provide cities with real-time information about what their residents are doing and feeling.
Crowdsourced information can be crucial in times of crises, helping cities to, for example, map
out evacuation routes, or ascertain the occupation rate of shelters.

3.5.3 Developing resilience – planning

One simple step that cities can take towards resilience is to plan ahead. Cities can start to develop
a resilience strategy framework. Such a framework would include:

• Policies and measures to detect, prevent, prepare for and respond to climate change and natural
disasters, based on the guidelines of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
(UNDRR) Sendai Framework and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC).

• An assessment of the most relevant climate change and natural disaster risks and impacts for
the city, such as changes in air quality, sea level, food security, biodiversity, etc.

• An assessment of the most relevant human-induced risks and impacts for the city including civil
unrest, war, migration, etc.

• Plans to monitor the most important risks and impacts, to assess the cost, and to reduce
vulnerability.
• Design of resilient infrastructures and systems for the prevention, mitigation, adaptation to and
recovery from anticipated and potential risks and impacts.

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