What is this standard about?
City resilience is vital for protecting, sustaining and enhancing economic, social, physical and environmental value, so this standard offers practical guidance and tools for increasing the resilience of cities.
Who is this standard for?
It’s intended for use by all stakeholders who contribute to city resilience. This includes:
- Resilience officers (Chief Resilience Officers)
- Local government authorities
- City leaders (city planners, city officials, elected leaders)
- Public bodies with a city-wide remit
- Senior executives of local authorities (including chief executives, chief information officers and directors of key departments)
- Senior executives in the private sector (who wish to partner with and assist cities in transformation of city systems)
- Leaders from voluntary sector organizations active within the city
- Leaders in the higher and further educations sectors
- Community innovators and representatives
- Professional heads in authorities such as regeneration, planning, safety and security, climate and sustainability, transport and civil contingencies
Why should you use this standard?
Building on the UNISDR Ten Essentials, the Rockefeller 100 Resilient Cities programme and lessons learned from cities themselves, BS 67000 is a unique source of guidance on how cities can organize, prioritize, plan, deliver and increasingly improve their resilience.
It covers how local authorities, communities and other organizations can collaborate, both strategically and at the operational level, to reconcile objectives, priorities, programmes, investment and activities to build resilience at the urban scale.
It defines key concepts and terms, and sets out a general framework for citizens, businesses and government that assists the prioritization, integration and development of local strategies and plans, which:
a) Engage and motivate city, community and business leaders to address resilience and provide the necessary conditions for success
b) Improve their own situational awareness and internal resilience over the short, medium and long term
c) Support and build deeper, broader and more integrated capacity in the city
d) Prioritize and strengthen capital investment decisions
e) Recognize and prepare for changing needs, such as demographic, technological, physical and economic
The benefits of a resilient city include:
- The stability and agility to thrive in the face of uncertainty
- The big picture to identify, quantify, prioritize and manage vulnerabilities
- A benchmark against which leaders can report during their term
- Reputational protection, demonstrating that due diligence has been performed and best practice applied to manage city risks
- A more rounded business case for investment in city services and infrastructures
- A means of attracting people and business to the city
- Better collaboration and understanding between departments, which results in solutions that sustain and maximize benefits across multiple agencies
- An empowered society that becomes engaged and part of the solution