In recent years, with the intensification of global climate change and the acceleration of urbanization, extreme weather disasters have occurred frequently, posing unprecedented challenges to the safety and stability of cities. How to enhance the resilience of cities, so that they can better resist disasters, reduce losses, and recover quickly, has become a major issue that modern cities, especially mega cities, urgently need to address. The concept of resilient cities emerged in this context.

Resilient cities, in short, refer to urban systems that are able to withstand disasters, mitigate losses, recover quickly, and continuously improve their adaptability in the long term through their own capabilities. Its core features include disaster resistance, resource allocation efficiency, and continuous learning optimization ability. This concept was developed by the China Earthquake AdministrationIt was first proposed in 2017 and subsequently incorporated into the national strategy in the 14th Five Year Plan, becoming an important direction for urban modernization.

In order to explore the connotation and practice of resilient cities in depth, this issueThe 'Ningdian Interview' is fortunate to have been invited to ChinaChief Researcher, National Key Laboratory of Multimodal Artificial Intelligence System, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences、Professor Zhang Wensheng, doctoral supervisor and distinguished dean of the School of Computer Science and Network Engineering at Guangzhou University.

As a senior expert in this field, Professor Zhang Wensheng has long been committed to the theoretical research, technological development, and systematic application of resilient cities, and has a profound experience in the concept, technology, and application of resilient cities.

What kind of city can be called a resilient city, and what conditions must it possess?

Zhang Wensheng:Although the concept of urban resilience has not been proposed for a long time, its connotation has gradually become clear. It mainly describes the ability of the components of a city or urban agglomeration to maintain or restore structural functionality in the face of various risk disturbances, reflecting the resilience of the city or urban agglomeration in responding to challenges.

Risk, to put it bluntly, includes two categories: sudden events and cyclical phenomena. Sudden events such as natural disasters, earthquakes, floods, typhoons, major safety accidents such as fires, explosions, traffic accidents, and infectious disease outbreaks often occur suddenly, causing significant impacts on urban operations. Periodic phenomena, such as traffic congestion during festivals and holidays, can lead to a surge in passenger flow at airports, docks, and train stations, affecting normal traffic order; For example, some domestic promotional festivals (such asDuring the Double Eleven shopping festival, the volume of express delivery has skyrocketed, and the pressure on warehouse logistics has increased dramatically, leading to a series of problems. In addition, there are also some trend risks, such as the frequent occurrence of extreme weather caused by climate change, and the impact of industrial changes (such as the transformation of traditional manufacturing industries, chip embargoes, etc.) on urban economy and social structure.

Urban resilience is reflected in whether a city can maintain its original development trend or quickly restore its normal functions in the face of sudden, cyclical, or trending risks. For example, after a natural disaster occurs, can cities quickly allocate resources, repair damaged facilities, and ensure the basic living needs of residents; Can intelligent traffic management and optimized logistics processes effectively alleviate traffic congestion or increased logistics pressure; Can we maintain stable economic growth through industrial upgrading and transformation during industrial changes.

Of course, there are many specific examples of urban resilience. In summary, urban resilience is an important indicator for measuring the sustainable development of cities. It requires cities to fully consider various risk factors in planning, construction, and management, improve their resilience, adaptability, and recovery capabilities, and ensure that they can maintain stable operation and sustainable development in the face of challenges.
Currently, what are the benefits of building resilient cities for residents and all aspects of the city?

Zhang Wensheng:In our southern cities, typhoons are common natural disasters with different levels and paths, and their impacts on cities also vary significantly. For us residents, if we can accurately predict the impact of a typhoon before it arrives, we can better formulate response strategies and make reasonable arrangements for our lives and work.

Specifically, when the typhoon level is low and the impact is minimal, we may only need to take some precautions, such as reinforcing doors and windows, and storing necessary materials, in order to carry out daily activities as usual. When the typhoon level is high and its path directly threatens the city, we need to take stricter measures, such as early suspension of work and classes, to ensure the safety of residents. At this point, remote work systems become particularly important as they enable us to efficiently complete work tasks even from home, ensuring the continuity of urban production and life.

The resilience of cities is particularly evident in such contexts. Taking typhoons as an example, if we can accurately predict their path and intensity, we can deploy emergency resources such as rescue teams, medical supplies, etc. in advance, thereby restoring urban functions in the shortest possible time. At the same time, the resilience of urban infrastructure is also crucial, such as flood control and drainage systems, power supply systems, etc., which can quickly resume normal operation after a typhoon and ensure the basic living needs of residents.

The resilience of cities during wartime is also worth learning from. Despite frequent wars, Israel's residents' lives remain orderly, thanks to its well-developed air defense system and high levels of self-discipline among its residents. When the air raid siren sounded, residents quickly hid in cover; After the alarm was lifted, they quickly returned to their work posts and continued their daily production and life. This high level of resilience and adaptability enabled Israel to maintain social stability and economic development even in times of war.

Natural disasters such as earthquakes also test the resilience of cities. New Zealand and Japan have effectively reduced the damage caused by earthquakes to their cities through advanced building technology and strict building regulations in the face of frequent earthquakes. At the same time, they have established a comprehensive early warning system and emergency response mechanism to ensure that rescue work can be quickly carried out after an earthquake occurs, minimizing casualties and property damage to the greatest extent possible.

In short, urban resilience is of great significance in ensuring residents' livelihoods, maintaining social stability, and promoting economic development. By enhancing risk prediction capabilities, improving infrastructure, and establishing emergency response mechanisms, we can continuously improve the resilience level of cities, enabling them to maintain a resilient posture in the face of various challenges.
What are the challenges we face in transforming a traditional city into a resilient one?

Zhang Wensheng:When we talk about cities, we often focus on their hardware environment, such as the resilience of infrastructure such as buildings and transportation, which is indeed an important component of urban resilience. Taking earthquakes as an example, advanced building technology and dampers can effectively reduce the damage to urban buildings caused by earthquakes; Accurate weather forecasts and warning systems can help us respond to natural disasters such as typhoons in advance. However, urban resilience is not only reflected in the hardware environment, but also in how we plan ahead to ensure that the city can maintain stable operation in the face of various risks.

In this regard, Paris has provided us with a great example. The urban planning of Paris places great emphasis on the rational arrangement of transportation and space. Based on daily traffic data, fine management is carried out in various regions to reduce the risk of urban traffic disturbance. This planning makes Paris' new urban transportation a model of resilient cities, solving potential problems in the future. Paris' approach demonstrates that early planning is crucial for enhancing urban resilience.

Advance planning involves not only the construction of hardware environment, but also software considerations. Software planning covers aspects such as urban life, work, architecture, and population, among which land and resource planning is the most typical. Through scientific and rational land and resource planning, it is possible to ensure that cities have sufficient space to cope with potential risks in the future during the development process. In addition, software planning also includes responses to future service industries, such as how to enhance the overall resilience of cities through innovative collaborative industries, optimizing transportation integration emergency collaboration, and so on.

However, the implementation of software planning is often more challenging than the construction of hardware environments. The improvement of hardware environment, such as building reinforcement, transportation facility improvement, etc., is relatively easy to achieve as long as there is sufficient funding and technology. Software planning involves more complex factors such as policy formulation, social collaboration, and resident participation, all of which require long-term accumulation and effort. At present, although people are beginning to pay attention to urban resilience, they often focus more on the construction of hardware environment and overlook the importance of software planning. In fact, software planning is equally crucial for enhancing urban resilience, as it relates to the long-term development of the city and the quality of life of its residents.

Urban resilience is a comprehensive concept that requires both hardware environment support and software planning support. Through scientific and rational planning and construction, we can create more resilient cities to cope with various challenges that may arise in the future.

Which cities in China can be considered as models of resilient cities?
Zhang Wensheng:In China, firstly, the planning of Xiong'an New Area. As a blank sheet of paper, Xiong'an New Area was planned from scratch, and its planning concept fully considered the overall development of the Beijing Tianjin Hebei urban agglomeration, comprehensively considering multiple dimensions such as ecology, land use, resources, and environment. This reflects General Secretary Xi Jinping's proposalThe far-reaching plan of the 'Millennium Plan'. The planning of Xiong'an New Area not only focuses on the construction of hardware environment, but also integrates the concept of urban resilience into it. Through scientific and reasonable planning, various challenges that may arise in the future can be addressed in advance.

Secondly, the coordinated development plan of the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area urban agglomeration. This plan focuses on the coordinated development of industries and the overall coordination of urban clusters, and enhances the resilience of the entire region by optimizing industrial structure and population distribution. Especially in Guangdong Province, by developing different industrial clusters in different regions and supporting corresponding facilities, the influx of foreign population has been effectively dispersed, avoiding the problem of excessive population concentration in a few cities.

This planning approach not only promotes balanced economic development, but also enhances the overall resilience of urban agglomerations. I think this is a model of urban resilience planning. That's why Guangdong Province did it last yearThe GDP has reached 14 trillion yuan, which is not only an increase in the total economic output, but also a reflection of the initial results of urban coordinated development. Of course, the Yangtze River Delta region is also a model, which has achieved significant results in urban resilience planning.