What is the purpose of urban climate resilience? Implications for addressing poverty and vulnerability

TY - JOUR

T1 - What is the purpose of urban climate resilience? Implications for addressing poverty and vulnerability

AU - Friend, Richard

AU - Moench, Marcus

PY - 2013/12

Y1 - 2013/12

N2 - This paper considers how development policy concerns for poverty reduction and social justice can be accommodated in emerging theories and practice on urban resilience and adaptation in response to climate change. There is growing interest in applying resilience to address the challenges of urban climate change. The application of resilience theory has considerable potential for furthering our understanding of the particulars of urban climate vulnerability with its emphasis on complex systems that are increasingly important to urban life. But there are also significant risks. Resilience theory does not adequately address critical issues of power, voice and equity. Moreover, much of the uptake of resilience is as a buzzword rather than a conceptual framework. As such, the discourse of resilience has connotations that can run counter to interests of poverty reduction. Drawing on experience in Asia, the authors argue for a critical application of resilience, with special attention to concerns of resilience for and by whom.

AB - This paper considers how development policy concerns for poverty reduction and social justice can be accommodated in emerging theories and practice on urban resilience and adaptation in response to climate change. There is growing interest in applying resilience to address the challenges of urban climate change. The application of resilience theory has considerable potential for furthering our understanding of the particulars of urban climate vulnerability with its emphasis on complex systems that are increasingly important to urban life. But there are also significant risks. Resilience theory does not adequately address critical issues of power, voice and equity. Moreover, much of the uptake of resilience is as a buzzword rather than a conceptual framework. As such, the discourse of resilience has connotations that can run counter to interests of poverty reduction. Drawing on experience in Asia, the authors argue for a critical application of resilience, with special attention to concerns of resilience for and by whom.

KW - Poverty

KW - Systems

KW - Urban climate resilience

KW - Vulnerability

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84888198723&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.uclim.2013.09.002

DO - 10.1016/j.uclim.2013.09.002

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84888198723

SN - 2212-0955

VL - 6

SP - 98

EP - 113

JO - Urban Climate

JF - Urban Climate

ER -