Emerging technologies and transdisciplinary approach towards strengthening risk-informed urban resilience

Today, some 56% of the world’s population live in cities. As more people live in cities, more urban dwellers will be affected by natural hazards while the frequency and severity of natural hazards increases. On the other hand, high risk can also be accompanied by low vulnerability when paired with the right environment. Cities could be one of the safer places to live in when a disaster strikes with much higher levels of access to services, infrastructure, technology, and information than in rural areas. Being the forefront of the technology industry, the city infrastructures enable risk monitoring, sharing information with the public, gathering data contributions to DRR and resilience programs, and is increasingly valuable in response. This presents a huge opportunity to engage new and innovative technology platforms with urban dwellers.

The New Urban Agenda commits itself to build urban resilience through humanising technologies by promoting open, user friendly and participatory digital platforms. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR) recognizes the importance of urban resilience and calls for necessary actions that strengthen urban risk reduction programming. Goal 11 of SDG ‘make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and innovative’ emphasize on reducing deaths and economic losses as well as ensuring plans and policies of cities integrating climate change and disaster risk. The Mid-Term Review of the SFDRR reflected the need for inclusive and accessible systems to enhance disaster risk assessment, information, and understanding.

The topic of this session will therefore directly address these international commitments, whilst speaking to one of the WUF-12 dialogue themes: Putting people first in a digital era. The intersection between urban resilience and technologies for DRR will be of particular interest in this session. Innovative technologies had gained an unprecedented growth and acceptance that lasted well into the post-pandemic era, providing great opportunities to reforge the pathway towards achieving sustainable urban development. This session will provide a unique opportunity to better understand risk-informed urban development using Trans-Disciplinary Approaches (TDA) and the role of technology-based data-gathering required for resilience planning focusing on risk communication to promote All-of-Society towards effective Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). We will also explore ways to create synergies between technological innovation and approach in urban planning processes towards a risk-informed society by developing strategic foresight for transformational change. Case studies will be drawn from countries with experience of using information and data gathered in innovative ways to foster DRR, including best practices for anticipatory action, people-centred approaches, Living Labs and examples of digital-driven platforms.