Abstract
With cities all over the world becoming more susceptible to crises such as natural disasters, health emergencies, and economic disruptions, urban resilience has become a crucial subject in rapidly urbanising contexts. When zooming into urban planning, urban resilience strategies include immediate crisis response and long-term community recovery and adaptation plans. Despite this significance, limited research has been dedicated to understanding localised resilience practices in developing cities, particularly in South African municipalities. Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic are incorporated into the study. This study addresses this gap in research by exploring the urban resilience strategies implemented by the City of Ekurhuleni in Tembisa before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Adopting a qualitative approach, the research made use of content analysis of in-depth interviews with municipal officials from the City of Ekurhuleni engaged in resilience planning and implementation.
The study further investigated the lived experiences of Tembisa residents in accessing basic services before, during, and after the COVID-19 lockdown. Understanding the lived experiences of the community assisted the study in contextualising the effectiveness of the City of Ekurhuleni’s urban resilience strategies. Insight into real-life impacts was gained, outlining strengths and weaknesses of the strategies implemented. Moreover, the findings reveal that Ekurhuleni employed a variety of economic support and social assistance to strengthen community resilience amid the pandemic’s challenges. These strategies highlight the municipality’s commitment to sustainable urban management in an emergency. However, it was also evident from the interviews with residents that the municipality’s efforts were not sufficient to target the vast systemic issues that plague Tembisa. Lastly, the study proposes an overarching framework for urban resilience when cities face emergencies or disasters. This study contributes to the understanding of urban resilience for the urban poor, emphasising the importance of flexible strategies for future urban resilience planning.