Wits launches urban resilience think tool for municipalities
JOBURG – A new ‘think tool’ for municipal officials, giving some background on resilience theory and some of its more practical implications, has been launched at University of Witwatersrand.
Academics and industry professionals gathered at the Wits Club at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) on 16 February to listen to a report surrounding the topic of urban resilience. The report, entitled Urban Resilience Thinking for Municipalities, is the result of a new urban development concept that has rapidly gained a central place in spatial and urban planning policy in South Africa over the past few years. The report was not designed as a manual or tool box, but rather as a tool to promote urban resilience thinking.
Resilience thinking, as the focal point of the City of Johannesburg’s new Growth and Development Strategy, Joburg 2040, refers to social resilience, environmental resilience and economic resilience, among others.
The Urban Resilience Thinking for Municipalities document was prepared as a contribution to the Department of Science and Technology’s Grand Challenge on Global Change and as a complement to flagship initiatives such as the South African Risk and Vulnerability Atlas project.
It recognises both the threats posed by poorly managed urban areas and of the opportunities that towns and cities offer for greater resilience and sustainability.
Associate Professor Barend Erasmus was one of the many speakers at the presentation and stressed that the report is a significant body of work.
“Resilience can be a seen as a way to deal with the messy urban development problems of the future. We want to have the ability to get over the hills and be able to plan ahead,” said Erasmus.
The three-year-funded programme at Wits was entitled Urban Resilience Assessment for Sustainable Urban Development with Professor Philip Harrison as the lead investigator.
This programme was developed with the specific intention of giving support to local government in South Africa. This was done with the recognition that municipalities have a vital role in proactively managing processes of change.
The programme is a partnership between Wits and the Gauteng City-Region Observatory. It is also trans-disciplinary, with a working group that includes researchers in a number of fields including urban planning, architecture, law and environmental science.
Division head of sustainable development in the School of Public Leadership at the University of Stellenbosch and academic director of the Sustainability Institute, Professor Mark Swilling, delivered the keynote address, highlighting key concepts of sustainable urban development in South Africa. “There has to be a shift from a fossil-based economy to a renewable based economy. It’s all about how we reconfigure our urban infrastructures that will determine the long-term prosperity of cities in South Africa.”
Other speakers at the presentation included Professor Alison Todes, Professor Chrisna Du Plessis, Professor Tracy-Lynn Humby, Dr. Contanza La Mantia, Kerry Bobbins, Christina Culwick, and Dylan Weakley.
