Briefing: Resilience: a developing planning tool

Abstract

Although the concept and principles of resilience are not new, the name is. This subject of research and strategy has experienced renewed interest since Hurricane Sandy devastated the Northeast coast of the USA, reflected in the significant developments in both understanding and planning practice. There is a general realisation that infrastructure hardening is not enough and quantifying what to harden against has become nearly impossible to predict as weather events become more extreme and frequent. This brief provides a short introduction to resilience, how it applies and some emerging practice.