Member cities and experts from the former 100 Resilient Cities programme have announced the evolution and expansion of their network into the Global Resilient Cities Network (GRCN).
Leveraging the tools and expertise of its membership and a team of former 100 Resilient Cities executives in London, Mexico City, New York and Singapore, the GRCN aims to support a community of urban resilience practitioners in 98 cities and 40 countries.
Climate-smart cities
Collectively, members of the network represent 220 million city dwellers and 79 endorsed resilience strategies, containing more than 4,000 concrete resilience initiatives aimed at building safer, healthier, more equitable, climate-smart and prosperous cities.
With support from the Rockefeller Foundation and other funding strategic partners, the network aims to continue supporting cities and their chief resilience officers in future-proofing their communities and critical infrastructure with a “reach, strength and legacy” to understand and support the challenges of the ever-growing urban society.
Cities face a growing range of shocks and stresses, including climate change, growing migrant populations, inadequate infrastructure, pandemics and cyber-attacks. Four-fifths (82 per cent) of cities globally are located in areas that face a high risk of mortality from a natural disaster.
“We are responding to a global imperative to reinvigorate a focused and financially sustainable urban resilience practice network.”
Nearly 90 per cent of cities globally are highly vulnerable to economic losses associated with potential natural disaster, reports GRCN. Building resilience in cities and communities of all sizes is therefore more critical than ever before.
“This network will drive urban resilience action with an expanded partner base and welcome up to 10 new members in 2020 to protect vulnerable communities from climate change and other urban challenges,” said Lauren Sorkin, acting executive director of GRCN.
“Our network’s resilience strategies highlight a $35bn investment gap in resilience in our cities alone. We know there is more work to be done; as global threats rise, there has never been a more important time to invest in the technologies, capacities and projects that deliver urban resilience.”
The Global Resilient Cities Network said it is committed to continuing its role as a ‘vanguard’ of the urban resilience movement and will welcome new cities which share its values to join the network on a limited basis.
“We are responding to a global imperative to reinvigorate a focused and financially sustainable urban resilience practice network, unlocking investment in communities and critical infrastructure,” added Mike Gillooly, chief resilience officer of Christchurch, New Zealand and co-chair of the recently established global steering committee of CROs.
“In addition, as cities, we are committed to realise the enormous potential to engage with partners to diversify funding and sustain a renewed programme.”
Rebranding of the network is work in progress and the new brand is expected to be announced in May 2020.
Artikel ini telah tayang di smartcitiesworld.net dengan judul “Chief resilience officers announce the Global Resilient Cities Network”, https://www.smartcitiesworld.net/news/news/chief-resilience-officers-announce-the-global-resilient-cities-network-5021
Penulis : SmartCitiesWorld news team
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