Neighbourhood Resilience to Extreme Weather Events: An Assessment Methodology for Canadian Cities

Date
2018-04-27
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Abstract
The escalating intensity and increasing frequency of extreme weather events caused by climate change, necessitates an examination of how urban form can support or undermine a city’s resilience to these weather events. A single, uniform strategy to increase resilience in a city is unlikely, because while regional weather patterns impact an entire area, individual neighbourhoods are affected differently because of their age, design, size, (infra)structures, land-use policies, etc. Furthermore, they are not all sited on identical topography, for example, some are located on a flood plain, some on the crest of a hill. Because neighbourhoods are generally built-out within a finite window of time, they are ‘development units’ reflecting the contemporary norms, technology, architecture, etc. of the era in which they were built. Because of these multitude of factors, every neighbourhood within a city is unique, and thus each possesses inherent strengths and weaknesses to extreme weather events, either by design or by accident. This thesis proposes a series of 24 metrics to assess individual neighbourhood form, local elements, and circumstances to uncover its inherent functionality. By understanding how a neighbourhood functions, i.e. the mechanisms operating within it that support residents, we are better placed to recognize any points of vulnerability or strength. Two case studies are provided as a means to test the proposed assessment framework in a real-world setting. The metrics provide information on neighbourhood and resident vulnerabilities dependent on weather, location, amenities, transportation, food, energy, and water provision. Metric results offer an overview for residents, planners, or other stakeholders, to understand the interplay of different elements within a neighbourhood, and support these stakeholders into the future for climate change adaptation planning or retro-fitting.
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Keywords
Climate change adaptation, Urban Resilience, Neighbourhood Scale, Neighbourhood Systems, Food, Water, Energy, Shelter, Transportation, Waste Management
Citation
Robertson, N. S. (2018). Neighbourhood Resilience to Extreme Weather Events: An Assessment Methodology for Canadian Cities (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/31888