Identifying characteristics of resilient urban communities through a case study method

Abstract

With an increasing acknowledgement of climate variability, the important role of resilience in achieving healthy urban ecosystems has also been discussed by the academics recently. The literature however shows ambiguity about the characteristics of urban resilience, while substantive progress has been made in the practice of resilience building in urban communities. To bridge the gap between theory and practices, this paper dedicate to answer the question: What are the typical characteristics of resilient urban communities? Using the research method of case study, the paper screens and analyzes four exemplary cases of resilient urban communities from around the world, articulating the specific resilient strategies and their core resilient concept of each case. Finally, eight characteristics in four performance dimensions are distilled and explained. The identification of the characteristics provides a scenario of resilient urban community, and it also gives the direction for fostering the urban community resilience. Keywords: Resilience, Characteristics of resilience, Case study, Resilient urban community