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SMR NEWS

Bristol launches Resilience Strategy

19 December 2016

Bristol (United Kingdom) has laid out its path towards greater resilience by officially launching its Resilience Strategy last Monday, comprising resilience pillars, goals and transformative actions to be realised over the next 50 years. The council shared the ‘Bristol Resilience Strategy’ - a framework to protect Bristol against potential shocks and pressures it may encounter in the future.

As the plan is looking ahead over the next 50 years, there is a large focus on young people and how they can help build a more resilient future for the city. Many of the ideas included in the strategy will benefit the next generation, these include; votes for 16 year olds, free bus travel for U16s and a vision for a child-friendly city.

Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, said: “Resilience speaks to everything that we do and this strategy will help us, our partners and the community develop a strong plan for our shared future.

“By setting out a clear and deliberate vision of what and where we want to be as a city, we hope to be better placed to deal with issues that affect us now and into the future.

“We need to take bold action to make sure that Bristol is able to adapt, develop and deliver change effectively and in the best interests of everyone who lives and works here. I’m pleased that we have this opportunity to work with our communities and include people in owning and shaping our long term future. Together we can help make sure everyone feels the benefit of Bristol’s strengths and success whilst being best protected from everything life throws at us.”

The strategy, which has been drawn up with key stakeholders, aims to build on the work already being done to make the city socially, environmentally and economically sustainable. It sets out intentions to create a ‘flourishing’ city and tackle some of Bristol’s major issues, including, traffic congestion, affordable housing and child poverty.

Bristol is a Tier-2 city of Smart Mature Resilience. As part of the project, Bristol is working closely together with its Tier 1 city partner of Donostia (Spain) and the project scientists to develop tools to support resilience development in both cities and in other cities around Europe.

Bristol City Council has already contributed to the development of the new Resilience Information Portal, a collaborative environment designed to facilitate awareness and engagement among key partners in resilience building. A prototype of the platform is already available online, and cities are invited to make use of this free tool to complement their internal and external communication platforms within their city administration and as part of communicating resilience-related information with their citizens.

Bristol has also been actively involved in developing the Resilience Maturity Model, which enables cities to self-assess its resilience status and provides a roadmap for how cities’ resilience development could be rolled out. The Maturity Model is already online and available for cities to download and use.

Bristol has also contributed to pilot testing of the Risk Systemicity Questionnaire, which is currently under development by the University of Strathclyde. The Risk Systemicity Questionnaire is an interactive tool that allows users to assess their cities’ risks and risk preparedness and suggests possible policies that could be adopted in order to make the cities more resilient against these risks.

The city’s engagement in the Smart Mature Resilience project is one of the ways in which Bristol is taking steps to achieve its resilience aims, such as making the city’s success available to all and addressing the challenges of inequality in health and access to economic opportunities by supporting and empowering the city’s diverse communities.

RELATED NEWS

DARWIN project invites expert input on resilience

3 November 2016

Development of the DARWIN Resilience Management Guidelines (DRMG) is progressing, and the project wants to hear what practitioners and experts in resilience and emergency management think.

An online meeting (webinar) will be held from 09.30 to 11.30 CET on Wednesday 9 November in order to present the DRMG in their current state, and gather feedback from experts and practitioners. Feedback and input from these groups is key to the DARWIN project in ensuring the DRMG are relevant and usable, and is the purpose of the DARWIN Community of Practitioners (DCoP).

Please find the webinar invitation here. For more information, please click here.

SMR NEWS

Donostia continues to strengthen its resilience with the Smart Mature Resilience project

26 October 2016

A few days ago, one of the most significant known cyber-terrorist attacks to date hit some of the world's major technological and media groups. The fall-out saw citizens unable to access their online services and raised alarm as to whether user data could have landed in the hands of cybercriminals.

A team of researchers at Tecnun, University of Navarra, has been working for on the Smart Mature Resilience project for the last, as the coordinator of a consortium of 13 institutions, universities and experts in resilience.

The objective of this project is to deal with potential crises resulting from climate change, social dynamics, and possible failures or emergencies in critical infrastructure, creating guides European resilience to prevent and deal with the potential consequences of these phenomena.

SMR NEWS

Communication Toolkit to support city resilience

19 October 2016

SMR is currently developing a communication and engagement platform, which is designed to support cities and emergency services in their communication with citizens.

Cities and city administrations are complex systems with existing processes and channels for communicating internally and with their citizens. Rather than proposing to replace or substitute processes already in use and familiar to citizens, SMR will provide a toolkit for cities to be able to 'fill in the blanks' where their current communication channels are lacking facilities.

This will serve as a toolbox, where cities can compare the communication systems already in place in their systems and choose elements and features of the platform to serve their individual contexts. The tool works with real-time concrete data, which can be supplied by different users on different administrative levels, and the platform is designed for ease of use and does not require advanced technical knowledge.

RELATED NEWS

Over 100 short video interviews on urban resilience published

7 October 2016

A resilient city is not only made up of bricks and mortar, but of flexible systems of elements working together. This complexity has been creatively visualised online in an interactive map of short video clips. As part of RAMSES, a European-funded research project on climate impacts and adaptation strategies for cities, Climate Media Factory has condensed scientific research into a compilation of over 100 short interview sequences from 33 climate change adaptation and resilience experts.

Users can define their own way of navigating the “On Urban Resilience” platform by auto-playing videos, searching by keyword or branching off into a topic-specific strand of clips to learn more in greater detail. “On Urban Resilience” is designed to help cities to find information on climate change impacts and to explore their options for adapting to climate change and for building city resilience. Contributions by experts on adaptation and resilience from across Europe cover topics such as social adaptation, local climate change models, political commitments and how to start an adaptation strategy in cities.

Frans Berkhout of King’s College London, said: “Cities are competing more and more in terms of their climate resilience. These are risks that are real, they’re tangible, investors know about them, they care about them, and therefore cities need to wake up and start to transform their infrastructures in a climate resilient way.” “On Urban Resilience” is available online for free at http://on-urban-resilience.eu/.

For more information, visit the RAMSES website.

RELATED NEWS

Glasgow places people and communities at heart of resilience strategy

5 October 2016

People and communities are the key component of a new strategy intended to build ICLEI Member City Glasgow’s (UK) resilience against the impact of the shocks and stresses faced by a city in the 21st century. The “Resilient Glasgow” Strategy details 50 different actions intended to create a stronger and more adaptable city.

Based on a detailed conversation with 3,500 Glasgow-residents, the strategy is the first of its kind to be released in the UK. It focuses on issues such as economic growth, tackling inequality, enhancing partnerships at all levels, delivering services around the needs of citizens, and building capacity for resilience among the city’s population.

Glasgow is a core city of the Smart Mature Resilience (SMR) project, which aims to support city decision-makers in developing and implementing resilience measures in their cities. As part of the project, Glasgow and its local research partner, the University of Strathclyde, are working closely together on co-creating and testing the project's tools, with a particular focus in Glasgow's case on building resilience against flood risk. Tier 2 cities of Rome (Italy) and Riga (Latvia) are observing Glasgow's progress and providing feedback, which will ensure that the final tools are widely replicable and applicable to all cities in Europe.

For more information, visit the Smart Mature Resilience website.

SMR NEWS

Introduction to prototype stakeholder engagement tools and cities share their needs at Kristiansand workshop

21 September 2016

The Smart Mature Resilience project is holding its review workshop in Kristiansand, Norway. The project has had an introduction this morning to the prototype Community Engagement and Communication Tool and with feedback from the project’s Tier 1 cities on their experience so far in the project on stakeholder engagement.

The cities also shared the security sectors they are focusing on as part of the project, their needs from the new communication platform and how it related to the communication systems their cities already have in place. The Community Engagement and Communication Tool will serve as a toolbox, where cities can compare the communication systems already in place in their systems and choose elements and features of the platform to serve their individual contexts. The tool works with real-time concrete data, which can be supplied by different users on different administrative levels, and the platform is designed for ease of use and does not require advanced technical knowledge.

Sigurd Paulsen of the city of Kristiansand, where the workshop takes place, identified water and waste as the security sectors of particular focus, and noted that the city is currently significantly investing in these areas. The city has worked closely with local research partner CIEM to provide comprehensive feedback and information on the city’s current communication practices in order to guide development of the tool and to optimize its potential for practical application. Paulsen noted that SMR workshops and networking have drawn attention to the need to build resilience within municipal administration and has also improved relationships and communication with city stakeholders, as well as spreading knowledge of resilience at national events, reaching national governmental actors. Kristiansand has also been able to closely cooperate with the city of Vejle through the project.

Judith Moreno, Donostia, named cyber security as a sector of particular focus for Donostia. Donostia found valuable networking at project events, as diverse experts from the city met at the SMR kickoff events, who are working on topics related to resilience, including health, food and crisis management, and networking through the SMR project gave these stakeholders the opportunity to discuss their experiences, which are diverse but related. Like Kristiansand, awareness of the need for resilience and the value of resilience-building has been recognised as a high priority on municipal agendas as a result of the project. As a bilingual city, Donostia has come up against the challenge of articulating and communicating resilience issues in translation. Standardization partners DIN were able to offer to support the city in this challenge and confirmed that they have comprehensive experience with addressing this challenge.

Frankie Barrett, Glasgow City Council, noted water security as a focus of Glasgow’s current resilience-building as part of the SMR project. He noted the intersections between physical and social resilience, and the importance of developing resilience against flood risk, as this can put the city’s most vulnerable groups at higher risk as a result of social factors. Glasgow has recently released its own resilience strategy. As a result of the project, Glasgow has been able to more closely communicate with stakeholders who had not previously been reached regarding resilience. Communication and coordination with national governmental level has also been boosted through the SMR project.

The workshop will continue with feedback from the Tier 2 cities.

SMR NEWS

Pilot tools testing launches at Glasgow kick-off workshop

29 August 2016

Smart Mature Resilience project partners met with over 30 local stakeholders, principally from the water sector and emergency services, on 3rd June 2016 to launch the tools testing phase for SMR core city of Glasgow.

Workshop organizers ICLEI Europe supported by the University of Strathclyde, hosts Glasgow City Council, project coordinators TECNUN and standardization partner DIN met with a group of the city’s most crucial stakeholders in ensuring Glasgow’s resilience against flood risk and crisis situations: SEPA, Scottish Water, Fire Scotland, Scottish Ambulance, Police Scotland, New Gorbals Housing Association, Wheatley Group, National Centre for Resilience, the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, Cordia and Sustainable Glasgow.

Project partners presented the key concepts of the SMR project and its resilience tools, which the project is co-creating in cooperation with project cities to form a Resilience Management Guideline. The contributions, opinions and experience of local first responders, critical infrastructure institutions and most importantly, Glasgow City Council, are essential to the development of these tools. While the tools are developed by experts with access to the latest scientific research and technology, local stakeholders’ input ensures that the tools are targeted at addressing the most prevalent and pressing issues facing Glasgow and its citizens. In Glasgow’s case, one of the most urgent challenges and top priorities is the risk of flooding.

As part of the workshop, the city, project partners and local stakeholders analysed and defined Glasgow’s key resilience challenges and practices in relation to water and the flooding security sector. In Scotland, flood risk is managed in accordance with the national Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009, which includes policy specific to the local context as well as creating a joined-up and coordinated process to manage flood risk at a national and local level. The regional Climate Ready Clyde initiative sets out a shared vision for a resilient city region through collaboration between neighbouring local authorities and agencies.

To explore how the city would currently react to a water-related crisis and to gather data for development of the SMR tools, the stakeholders and city partners considered a number of flood scenarios and designed theoretical responses in order to minimize distruption to the city.

Read more about Glasgow

RELATED NEWS

Meeting report now available for 4th International Climate Change Adaptation Conference

25 August 2016

The overall meeting report of the international conference Adaptation Futures 2016, practices and solutions has just been published and is available online. It contains short reports of all sessions, many pictures and key messages and impressions from the Scientific and the Practice Advisory Committees.

ICLEI Europe co-organised the high-level round table session on "Nature-based solutions" and contributed a presentation on "Co-creating climate change adaptation and resilience decision-making support tools with cities" as part of the session on "Decision Support".

TNO also presented the RESIN project was also discussed as part of science practice session "Resilient risk management strategies for critical infrastructure within cities". 

RELATED NEWS

New edition of the Klimalotse “Climate Navigator” for municipalities

24 August 2016

The “Climate Navigator” is meant to support decision-makers in cities and local authorities in circumnavigating climate risks. The revised version is now even more attuned to municipalities’ needs, making the online guide the most up-to-date tool for climate change adaptation available in Germany.

Floods, heat waves, protection from heavy rains and storms – municipalities are on the front lines of adapting to the impacts of climate change. However, the climate adaptation challenges facing municipalities are as varied as the municipalities themselves. Decision-makers from cities and local authorities must therefore come to terms with the topic of climate adaptation early on: well-planned adaptation measures don’t just prevent risks, they also save municipalities high costs and can preserve and even increase a city’s quality of life.

In the last few months, the “Climate Navigator” provided by the German Environment Agency (UBA) has undergone a comprehensive revision and been brought up to date. In early May the new version of this tool was finally introduced. The online guide is meant to support decision-makers in cities and local authorities in circumnavigating climate risks and pursuing opportunities. The revised version of the Climate Navigator is even more attuned to municipalities’ needs. Specialised prior knowledge of the effects of climate change is thus unnecessary to use the revised edition. It is immediately available in German for free download at http://www.uba.de/klimalotse.

adelphi optimised the Climate Navigator under commission of the UBA and in close cooperation with its partners Prognos and ICLEI Europe. “The Climate Navigator allows cities and local authorities to adapt to the impacts of climate change independently and according to their needs. As a result of our comprehensive revisions, the Climate Navigator is the most up-to-date instrument for small and medium-sized municipalities now available in Germany”, said Christian Kind, Senior Project Manager at adelphi and expert on climate change adaptation.

Climate Navigator leads users to a fitting strategy in five steps

The new version of the climate navigator is more flexible and takes into account many aspects of climate adaptation more deeply than before: The focus is no longer solely on creating an adaptation strategy; users are now supported much more in developing integrated climate protection and adaptation strategies. The instrument supports cities and local authorities through five modules to reach three different goals: as needed, they can (1) develop a simple adaptation strategy, (2) create an integrated climate protection and adaptation strategy, or (3) plan and implement measures for adapting to the impacts of climate change.

Alongside the comprehensive update of the guide, the topics “Financing Adaptation Measures” and “Strategy Creation and Integration” have been particularly expanded and attuned to practices in the municipalities. Legal developments have been added, and a multitude of tips and suggestions from Climate Navigator users have been taken up. To help users more quickly orientate themselves, picture galleries illustrate the technical information with the help of examples and documents from individual municipalities. This allows users to find a range of council decisions on the implementation of adaptation processes, maps on city climates, approaches for inter-municipal cooperation, and successfully implemented strategies.

Municipal decision-makers can find and download tested templates on the website of the German Environment Agency; for example, for documenting past extreme events, or a blueprint for generating a strategy. The Climate Navigator provides assistance for working on especially challenging tasks, for example with tips given by actors from the field, or in the form of links to other instruments.

You can find the updated Climate Navigator, further materials, and the associated newsletter at www.uba.de/klimalotse.

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This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 653569.