Abstract
Recent international accords such as the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030, Paris Agreement on Climate Change and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, increasingly stress upon importance of the cities in addressing a whole range of sustainability and resiliency objectives in an integrated manner. The New Urban Agenda of UN Habitat goes a step further and conceptually links the two and defines resilience as a key goal as well as means for more sustainable urban development. This is an implicit recognition that global to local development trends are characterized more heavily by crises than previously envisaged. Global cities are hotspots for hazardous global flows global flows including, for instance, climate change, spread of epidemics, oil price volatility, and terrorism. And such shocks are being rapidly transmitted to second and third tier global cities in an increasingly networked world. Seeking development pathways completely free of crises have now become illusory (William and Friedman 2018). Therefore, the New Urban Agenda suggests that possibilities of crises need to be acknowledged and responded to by adequate measures for building resilience in cities. However, the effectiveness of the global goals vitally depends on their integration with specific local urban governance contexts and mainstreamed within local development policy frameworks (Garschagen and Porter 2018). This paper has two aims. First it explores interlinkages between the concepts of urban resilience and urban sustainability in planning theory, by building on the approaches of Bai et al (2016). Second, it reviews how the two concepts are being implemented through the spatial planning strategies adopted in Surat, India, by focusing on the governance dimensions. A medieval port and centre of cotton textile production, the city had seen exponential growth in recent decades as the hub of the global diamond cutting and polishing industry. The economy of the city was badly hit during the early-1990s by tropical plague epidemic. However, since then, the city had adopted a series of strategies to further economic resiliency and livelihood security through environmental sustainability. The city is part of the global 100 Resilient Cities network, Indian government’s Smart Cities programme and has also taken steps to implement the Sustainable Development Goals. The paper reviews the spatial planning strategies of Surat, to understand how resiliency is being enhanced through participatory planning process and fund are being mobilised by bringing convergence between targets and indicators of multiple sustainability goals. The research draws lessons for cities in the Global South on the governance dimensions of building resiliency against spread of epidemics and associated public health concerns. Reference Bai X, et al (2016) Defining and advancing a systems approach for sustainable cities, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability Vol 23, p.69-78 Garschagen, M and L. Porter (2018) The New Urban Agenda: From Vision to Policy and Action, Planning Theory and Practice, vol 19(1), p.117-120 William, S and E Friedman (2018) Approaching Risk and Hazards in the New Urban Agenda: A Commentary, The New Urban Agenda: From Vision to Policy and Action, Planning Theory and Practice, vol 19(1), p.130-133
