Building Resilience: Intent, Parameters And Agendas

Amit Prothi is Associate Director at 100ResilientCities, a program of the Rockefeller Foundation. He is working with cities in Asia including Singapore, Seoul, Melaka, Chennai, Surat, Da Nang and Can Tho to promote urban resilience. Amit has practiced in North America, Asia and Africa for the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Rockefeller Foundation, US Government, and numerous municipalities and private sector clients. For nearly 20 years, he has worked on thematic areas including environmental planning, urban policy, urban design, land use planning, natural resource management, flood management, disaster risk reduction, housing, and community development.

- Shriti Das

Cities encompass a substantial ratio of world population. Cities offer jobs, housing, opportunities and inevitably it is cities that contribute a large chunk (approximately 3/4 th quarter) to the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Cities showcase three persistent trends – rapid urbanisation, globalisation and climate change. Rapid urbanisation and globalisation are interconnected processes while climate change is a consequence of many factors, of which the aforementioned play a major role. The world is urbanizing at a rapid pace. From 10% in 1800 AD to 54% in 2017 to 75% in 2050; urbanisation will impact the world substantially. And 75% of the infrastructure that the world will consume in 2050 is un-built. Given the substantial potential and prospect that the future holds, the time to build resilience in current cities and to design cities of the future, is the present age.

The Rockefeller Foundation wrestled with the notion of future cities and subsequent infrastructure. 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) was established to deliberate upon the same - 100 cities across the globe wherein cities avail resources and strategies to build resilience. Resilience is the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses and systems within a city to survive, adapt and grow; irrespective of chronic stresses and acute shocks they experience. The initiative works with cities and offers them 4 resources – A Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation for two years. The CRO advocates and convenes resilience and is the point person on the matter.