Framework and Indictors of Urban Resilience: Assay in the Urban Systems of Caldas da Rainha
and Évora
This communication focuses on urban resilience as a descriptor of the (larger or smaller) capacity that cities have to accommodate phases of stabilization or contraction in their development process.
Resilience is a dynamic descriptor associated with a continuous process of adjustment (Pendall et al. 2009), which refutes the equilibrist vision of resilience. We therefore adopt the evolutionary perspective of resilience. That is, "resilience is not conceived as a return to normality, but rather the ability of the complex socio-ecological systems to change, adapt, and, crucially, transform in response to stresses and strains" (Davoudi, 2012, p. 302, citing Carpenter et al. 2005).
This lecture aims to narrow the gaps in measuring the resilience of urban systems, in parallel with the efforts made by Carpenter et al., (2001) and Cutter et al., (2010) among others. Furthermore we will adapt the indicators framework to the context of Portuguese regional urban systems. We attempt to measure the performance and the direction of the changes, as well as to evaluate the level of preparation for desired and undesired changes that urban systems reveal. We analyse the approach to these issues in the literature, dividing the aforementioned analysis in three dimensions: resilience of the economic base, social structure and urban form. Our analysis, however, leaves out other dimensions (such as governance and biophysical aspects) associated with urban resilience. The harmonization of the framework of urban resilience indicators present in the literature with the data found in official statistical sources will also identify potential gaps that these sources may reveal. We subsequently apply the indicators matrix to the towns of Caldas da Rainha and Évora from 2001 to 2011. This period of time allows us to understand the changes in the proposed components and to identify the indicators that increase (or decrease) the level of resilience of both cities.
In brief, our investigation meets three objectives: first, define the framework of principles more commonly associated with urban resilience; second, provide a selection of indicators that embodies the different proposals of measurement; third: apply the indicators matrix in two case studies (the cities of Caldas da Rainha and Évora).
Keywords: evolutionary resilience, urban systems, resilience indicators