Designing future-ready cities: the need for a holistic urban resilience assessment tool
Authors
Saudi Arabia's cities are undergoing significant changes as part of the Vision 2030 initiative. To effectively respond to climate conditions and future challenges, developers need to create a well-defined and thorough framework. Although climate resilience has become a central focus in urban planning, there is still a noticeable gap in practical and comprehensive tools available for measuring and enhancing this resilience. This gap highlights the limitations of current frameworks in addressing the complexities of climate adaptation.
Global frameworks and the current gap
Many urban resilience assessment tools, such as the Urban Community Resilience Assessment developed by the World Resources Institute, UN-Habitat’s City Resilience Profiling Tool (CRPT), the RELi 2.0 Rating System for Resilient Design, and the World Bank’s Resilience Rating System, offer valuable insights but are often not fully utilised and tend to have a limited focus. These frameworks typically concentrate on a single aspect, such as environmental performance or infrastructure, while neglecting the interconnectedness of other vital elements, including social wellbeing, economic stability, and governance. This selective approach limits the ability to gain a comprehensive understanding of a city’s overall resilience. Therefore, there is a pressing need for a holistic and evidence-based framework that encompasses all key dimensions, generates measurable outcomes, and provides practical guidance for planners and policymakers.
Creating a comprehensive urban resilience assessment system requires drawing from these global best practices, as they highlight essential dimensions and can inform the development of an evidence-based framework. These dimensions include infrastructure, environmental considerations, economic factors, governance structures, social capacities, and institutional preparedness. Collectively, they contribute to developing a more adaptable and inclusive approach to resilience assessment in urban settings.
“There is a pressing need for a holistic and evidence-based framework that encompasses all key dimensions, generates measurable outcomes, and provides practical guidance for planners and policymakers.”
What a comprehensive tool should include
For an effective urban resilience assessment, it is essential to encompass six key categories: environment, economy, wellbeing, resources, infrastructure, and governance. These dimensions provide a comprehensive overview of the various conditions and systems that impact a city's capacity to respond to challenges and recover successfully. By addressing each of these areas, cities can better prepare for and navigate unexpected shocks.
The environment category is essential for evaluating sustainable urban practices. It emphasises reducing urban heat islands, limiting pollution, managing embodied energy, and promoting biodiversity. Key initiatives include waste diversion, the use of safe building materials, and the development of resilient food systems, such as urban agriculture and edible landscaping. These efforts are critical in supporting the country's environmental stewardship and emissions reduction goals.
Within the economy category, the focus is on establishing a disaster-resilient and recovery-ready economy. Important indicators to consider include employment rates - particularly female workforce participation - homeownership, economic diversification in line with Vision 2030, and GDP per capita. These metrics are vital for assessing economic stability and resilience against potential shocks.
The wellbeing category highlights the importance of quality of life, health, and social systems within cities. Relevant metrics include population growth, the Human Development Index (HDI), access to healthcare services, disaster risk insurance, and emergency supplies. This category also reflects national efforts to enhance walkability, promote social equity, and strengthen community resilience.
In the resources category, access to essential services such as water, electricity, internet, and healthcare is assessed. Additionally, educational access and the robustness of emergency systems that ensure service continuity during crises are crucial considerations for both urban and remote areas.
The infrastructure category prioritises climate and hazard resilience in urban environments. It examines access to hospitals, evacuation routes, public transport, drainage systems, and the structural integrity of buildings. Early warning systems and climate surveillance mechanisms are also recognised as key elements.
Lastly, the governance category evaluates the national institutional capacity, including public spending on health and social protection, unemployment support, disaster response mechanisms, and citizen engagement. The existence of resilience-focused ministries and effective contingency planning are indicative of strong governance in times of crisis.
Looking ahead
As urban environments in Saudi Arabia grow more complex and vulnerable to climate change, natural disasters, and resource scarcity, resilience has become a critical priority in city planning. A resilient city is one that can absorb, adapt to, and recover from shocks, whether environmental, economic, or social, while continuing to thrive. This calls for developing a comprehensive and measurable resilience assessment framework to help cities enhance their capacity to withstand future disruptions. Measuring multiple aspects of resilience aims to fortify urban areas against potential challenges and could potentially play a vital role in creating safer, more liveable, and sustainable environments for future generations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
