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Next-generation resilience
No one knows what the future holds. Establishing a framework for resilience in the built environment would make it easier to deal with the challenges ahead.
BY PROFESSOR IAIN WHITE, UNIVERSITY OF WAIKATO, AND PROFESSOR BRUCE GLAVOVIC AND DR PAUL SCHNEIDER, MASSEY UNIVERSITY
WELIVEINACOMPLEXWORLD, our communities bu eted by interconnected economic, socio- political and environmental shockwaves.
Last year was the hottest on record – about 1°C above pre-industrial levels. Sea levels are rising faster than at any time in nearly 3,000 years. What does this all mean?
In 2015 alone, about 150 major natural disasters impacted millions of people, most due to weather extremes.
Cyclone Winston recently devastated communities in Fiji. On 14 February, a 5.8M earthquake rocked Christchurch – a week ahead of the 5-year commemoration of the 22 February 2011 earthquake.
Resilience is a key defence
Resilience is recognised as a key strategy to safeguard people, towns and cities from the uncertainties of the future. Potentially, it can help built environment professionals
Hazards
Build 153 — April/May 2016 — 59
FEATURE SECTION
PHOTO – DAVE ALLEN, NIWA
