Advancing Resilience in Architecture, Urban Design and Planning

Dear Colleagues,

Contemporary urban environments, which encompass over half of the world's population, together with urban spaces, physical infrastructure systems, economic systems, and social systems, face multiple challenges as a result of natural disasters, man-made disasters, and economic downturns, along with the long-term impacts of climate change.

Hence, advancements in resilience-focused architecture, urban design and planning solutions, and relevant innovations are needed now more than ever. For instance, many cities around the world are predicted to become increasingly vulnerable to natural disasters, such as floods, storms, and wildfire (Hallegatte et. Al, 2013: Nohrstedt, D. et. Al. 2022). Therefore, buildings and urban spaces should be designed to withstand these extreme weather events. Historical events such as the Chernobyl meltdown, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the Bhopal disaster taught us how destructive man-made disasters can be. Some deadly disasters, such as the Alfred Murrah Federal Building disaster (1995) and the collapse of the World Trade Centre (2001), were in part caused by structural failures. Furthermore, population growth and urbanisation has increased the resource consumption and pollution level. Together with these challenges, economic recessions and global crises have become more apparent, such as the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic recession (2020), characterised by disruptions to city operations, day-to-day life, decreases in production, and increases in unemployment. Contemporary buildings and urban spaces should be designed to be adaptable to these changing conditions and evolving needs, both in the short and long term.

Strengthening the urban environment’s ability to resist, absorb, accommodate, adapt, transform, recover, and build-back-better after the effect of these challenges demands multifaced strategies, solutions, and innovations. These multifaced approaches should consider natural, social, economic, physical, and institutional factors when creating resilient urban environments; these could include innovative and adaptive design, resilient materials, adapted building codes, and novel design principles to create resilient structures and climate-resilient architecture. Advancing resilience in urban design and planning include risk-informed planning and designing, climate change adaptation strategies, nature-based solutions, resilient infrastructure provision, the encouragement of diversified economies, the promotion of strong social fabric, inclusive governance, data and evidence-based decision making, and the integration of environmental sustainability. Furthermore, these advancements should incorporate the advancements of the digital built environment, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), the Internet of Things (IoT), big data and data analytics, and smart cities. Accordingly, the aim of this Special Issue is to provide a platform for the in-depth exploration and discussion of latest advancements of resilience-focused architecture, urban design and planning strategies, solutions, and innovations.

Reference;

Hallegatte, S., Green, C., Nicholls, R.J. and Corfee-Morlot, J., 2013. Future flood losses in major coastal cities. Nature climate change, 3(9), pp.802-806.

Nohrstedt, D., Hileman, J., Mazzoleni, M. et al. Exploring disaster impacts on adaptation actions in 549 cities worldwide. Nat Commun 13, 3360 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31059-z

Dr. Chathuranganee Jayakody
Guest Editor

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• advancing resilience
• resilient architecture
• urban resilience
• urban design and planning
• disasters
• climate change adaptation