Urban resilience:two diverging interpretations

This paper uses two diverging interpretations of resilience to review and assess current UK policies for urban resilience. Both developed in scientific studies, the first interpretation is based on a mechanistic model of systems that can recover their original state after shocks, and the second is based on an evolutionary model enabling adaptation to disturbances. The literature review demonstrates that at present urban resilience is predominantly associated with the former. By contrast, only few policies and studies are inspired by the latter, although this is better suited to analyse dynamics of urban adaptation and manage cities accordingly. The contribution of this paper to an understanding of urban resilience is therefore twofold. First, an identification of the long-term consequences on the built environment associated with each model is provided, with the mechanical model ultimately hindering adaptation. Second, some approaches to generate effective responses to environmental and societal change are identified. Ultimately, this paper emphasises that the idea of a resilient city is fit for this age characterised by uncertainty, albeit it requires the recognition within planning practice that urban adaptation cannot be attained with current methodologies, and that much can be learned from theories on the resilience of ecosystems.

Redefining the Impact Assessment of Buildings: An Uncertainty-Based Approach to Rating Codes

Discrepancies between predicted and in-use building performance are well documented in impact assessments for buildings, such as rating codes. This is a consequence of uncertainties that undermine predictions, which include procedural errors, as well as users’ behaviour and technological change. Debate on impact assessment for buildings predominantly focuses on operational issues and does not question the deterministic model on which assessments are based as a potential, underlying cause of ineffectiveness. This article builds on a non-deterministic urban planning theory and the principles it outlines, which can help manage uncertain factors over time. A rating code model is proposed that merges its typical steps of assessment (i.e. classification, characterisation and valuation) with those principles, applied within the impact assessment of buildings. These are experimentation (of other criteria than those typically appraised), exploration (the process of identifying the long-term vulnerability of such criteria) and inquiry (iterating and critically evaluating the assessment over time)