Identifying risks and establishing solutions that are specific to each individual city have been cited as the most important aspects of ensuring a city’s resilience by the Chief Resilience Officers (CRO) of global cities interviewed in Cities Today magazine. Each city, namely New Orleans and Boulder (USA), Rotterdam (the Netherlands), Porto Alegre (Brazil), Vejle (Denmark), Glasgow (United Kingdom), and Christchurch (New Zealand), is involved in the 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) Challenge.

Arnoud Molenaar, CRO for ICLEI member Rotterdam (The Netherlands), advises: “Use the knowledge and expertise that is already available around the world. Create solutions that suit your city, by adopting the best solutions, fine-tuning them to your situation. Envisage what type of city you would like to be and trace that vision back to your resilience strategy, taking into account globalisation, urbanisation, increasing ICT [information communication technologies] dependence and climate change”.

The 100RC Challenge assists cities across the globe in becoming more resilient to the physical, social and economic challenges faced by urban areas in the 21st century. The Challenge, established in 2013, invites cities to participate in a resilience-strengthening regime covering various shocks – including emergencies and disasters – and stresses such as food and water shortages. The goal is to enable cities to respond to adverse events, and better deliver basic services throughout all conditions.

For more information, visit the Cities Today publication.