Abstract
Natural disasters and human behaviour present as unplanned, immeasurable, and unpredictable threats to the urban system. Consequently, cities need to have responses in place to recover from and reduce the consequences and dangers of shocks and stresses to the urban system quickly and effectively. The promotion of urban resilience with reference to environmental, economic, social, and political domains has evidently become of significant importance in preserving urban living and promoting a thriving system capable of protecting and providing for life in perpetuity. Thus, this study has formed a framework to measure the qualitative and quantitative factors of urban resilience, emphasizing definitions, categories, aspects of application, traits, challenges, and solutions. The objective of this work was to create a systematic approach and a detailed perspective on urban resilience for developing and strengthening cities against all disturbances. Conclusively this study identified that urban resilience can be defined by the status quo of four (4) categories: economic, social, governmental, and environmental. Urban resilience can be achieved through implementation of robust, flexible, integrated, inclusive and sustainable policies. Finally, this study produced a method to fill the gap identified in other frameworks by creating an accessible and generic model to measure urban resilience by providing for the identified lack of tools and methods to evaluate resilience. This study identified the need for cities to be equipped and capable of withstanding shocks, stressors, and pressures.
Keywords: urban resilience, smart cities, climate change, environmental degradation, resilient cities, KwaZulu-Natal, state of preparedness, resilience, urban systems, land use policies.