Disentangling the Relationship between Urban Form and Urban Resilience: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

The concept of resilience was only recently introduced into urban studies to address the complexity and future uncertainty in cities. In particular, the interest in better understanding how it can be integrated into studying urban form—as the raw material of urban planning/design and key for the sustainability of cities—has been growing. However, resilience is a polysemic concept with different meanings/interpretations, which creates ambiguity and challenges in its operationalization. This paper resolves this issue through a systematic review of 106 peer-reviewed publications guided by recurring questions in the literature (e.g., resilience of/through what? To what? For whom? How? When? Where?). The results showed that the urban form–resilience relationship is complex, where many urban form elements can influence resilience to a great many disturbances (general/specified). In facing these disturbances, urban form exhibits different performances (i.e., persistence, adaptability and transformability) and where it can be either persistent/adaptable/transformable itself or can enhance people’s persistence/adaptation capacities. The review also showed that there are many actors for urban form resilience and potential trade-offs. Finally, an overview of existing definitions of urban form resilience is provided to improve clarity in the field, and examples of general urban planning/design recommendations were formulated to enhance the resilience of different urban form elements.

Community resilience: the case of Asunción Ixtaltepec Oaxaca

“…Parece ser que todos ellos, parecen coincidir en la importancia que tiene consolidar el tejido social, afianzar valores comunitarios, tales como la solidaridad y la cooperación, así como reforzar el sentido de pertenencia y el optimismo. (14,15,16) De esta manera, la resiliencia comunitaria es una alternativa que favorece no solo el fortalecimiento social y la toma de decisiones en el contexto social, (17,18) también impulsa el empoderamiento de las localidades a través de la realización de acciones para mitigar el impacto de estresores y de cualquier tipo de factor natural y social que ponga en riesgo la vida, salud mental y cotidianeidad de las personas que las conforman. (10,19,20,21)…”