Resilience in Action: The Experience of European Cities

by Elisa Muzzini and Sofija Rakcejeva

City resilience is not only about coping with and adapting to crises. It is about radically transforming the way we live, move, and eat, in order to thrive in an era of polycrisis. How can cities transform in a way that is inclusive and equitable and provide opportunities for all?

In our CEB Technical Brief, we identified seven enabling actions that are key to strengthen city resilience and leave no one behind.

On May 23rd, we brought together city leaders to discuss their experiences in strengthening resilience for all. We learnt from seven cities that have embarked on a process of deep, inclusive transformation to be ready to meet 21st century challenges: Barcelona, Cascais, Dublin, Genoa, Kuopio, Rotterdam and Tbilisi. The online webinar, which was co-organised by the CEB and ICLEI European Secretariat in cooperation with the OECD Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Cities and Regions, focused on two critical actions to strengthen city resilience: establishing an inclusive participatory planning process and developing sustainable financing solutions.

Here are six takeaways from our rich discussion:

• Fill the empty seats at the table – Participation is inclusive when everybody who has a stake in a project is heard. However, the most vulnerable often do not have the resources and capacity to make their voices count. Inclusive participation means proactively filling the empty seats at the table. There is no one-size-fits-all approach. It is about reaching out to marginalised groups and tailoring the participatory approach to adequately represent the diverse needs of community groups. A core feature of Rotterdam’s BoTu[1] programme is the inclusive participatory process, which builds on the diversity and the strong sense of solidarity among community members as an asset to strengthen resilience. Similarly, Barcelona’s Superblock programme has made it a priority to reach out from the outset to groups who may be impacted by the initiative, such as the visually impaired, to create an environment where all community groups can have their voice heard.
• Empower communities to decide what is best for them – More and more cities are going beyond participation to give communities the agency to develop their own solutions that address local challenges. Cascais took participation one step further by establishing the Adapt Cascais Fund, which provides communities with funding and technical support to implement their own ideas to address climate change. Rotterdam’s BoTu programme has piloted an innovative participatory process which empowers communities and local entrepreneurs to co-design local initiatives, with BoTu residents playing a central role in deciding which initiatives receive funding.
• Promote behavioural change that is good for people and the planet – Behavioural change is key to drive transformative action. Raising awareness about the health co-benefits of resilience initiatives is critical to incentivise behavioural change that is beneficial for people and for the planet. Dublin has developed a creative and innovative public engagement strategy as part of the Eat The Streets initiative to celebrate Dublin’s rich food heritage and the benefits of growing and eating local food for communities and the environment. Similarly, highlighting the health benefits of active mobility was crucial to build community support for the Barcelona’s Superblock programme, an innovative initiative which aims at transforming mobility patterns and reclaiming public spaces while reducing the use of private cars in the fight against climate change.
• Embed resilience into a long-term, multi-stakeholder strategy –Developing a multi-stakeholder resilience strategy enables cities to allocate funding and mobilise long-term finance. A resilience strategy is also key to address complex, long-term challenges, beyond short-term political cycles. Genoa approved in 2019 its first resilience strategy “Lighthouse - Genoa’s City Strategy” which informed the preparation of Genoa’s Resilience Action Plan. Kuopio’s culture of wellbeing promotion is embedded in the city’s strategy and has informed its approach to strengthening community resilience. Tbilisi’s Resilience Strategy is the result of multiple partnerships with both the public and the private sector. Tbilisi actively reached out to all financial institutions in the city to mobilise different sources of financing for implementation. As the OECD/UCLG World Observatory for Subnational Government Finance and Investment indicates, diversifying sources of financing is critical to improve city resilience to shocks and stresses. Tbilisi is now focusing on building resilient kindergarten infrastructure to ensure that children can learn in a safe, protected and high-quality educational environment.
• Build an effective urban ecosystem to strengthen resilience in the face of multiple crises – During the Covid-19 pandemic, Kuopio established a multi-sectoral coordinating body comprising of representatives from municipal agencies, regional administration and local NGOs. It collected and monitored data on the Covid-19 pandemic to inform quick and coordinated action to promote the well-being of the most vulnerable in an emergency situation. Kuopio’s ecosystem approach has proved to be highly successful in strengthening the city’s resilience to face multiple crises. Soon after Covid-19, Kuopio relied on its well-established ecosystem to develop a swift and coordinated response to address the large inflow of Ukrainian refugees.
• Rely on empirical evidence as a compass to navigate uncharted waters – It takes time to see the results of transformational initiatives which aim to change people’s way of living. This is especially the case in uncertain times of multiple and overlapping crises. Collecting reliable monitoring indicators and periodically evaluating a programme is therefore critical to track progress, learn key lessons, disprove misconceptions and bring on board financiers. To measure the impact of its resilience initiatives, Genoa has developed a monitoring framework that adapts internationally recognised resilience indicators to the city context. Barcelona’s Superblock programme regularly collects data to assess socio-economic and health benefits as the city plans to scale up the Superblock programme citywide.  Kuopio coordinated data collection from a variety of actors to ensure that city action was driven by the latest empirical evidence during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Learn More:

·        Webinar agenda

·        YouTube Webinar recording

·        CEB Technical Brief

·        OECD-UCLG World Observatory on Subnational Government Finance and Investment

·        ICLEI Europe

[1] BoTu comprises the adjoining neighbourhoods of Bospolder and Tussendijken in Rotterdam.