Joint Connective Cities & GIDRM Working Group
Risk informed urban development
Teaser
Risk-informed development is a risk-based decision process that enables understanding of multiple concurrent threats and complex risks to and arising from development decisions and acting on that knowledge. Risk-informed development cannot be only understanding; it also requires action. It pushes development decision-makers to understand and acknowledge that all development choices involve trade-offs (ODI 2019).
Background
Hitting the long safely imagined temperate zone, the floods occurring throughout Europe in 2021, heightened the importance and urgency of discussing measures in enhancing risk preparedness and strengthening resilience. By 2050, two-thirds of the global population will be urban. Cities are confronted with new and pressing challenges such as pandemics, climate change and risk management. Such challenges will synergize and further intensify socio-economic disparities and degradation of the natural environment.
The need of cities worldwide to adapt to climate change and an increasing number of extreme weather and cascading events is more prominent than ever to save lives, reduce economic losses and protect critical infrastructure. The race against time to determine solutions to highly complex urban challenges is no more critical than in Africa. 90% of the urbanization experienced by 2050 will be in Africa and Asia. Despite the Africa’s low contributions to GHG emissions, the continent remains the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Africa’s cities face exponential collateral damage, posing systemic risks to its economies, infrastructure investments, water and food systems, public health, agriculture, and livelihoods; threatening to undo Africa’s development gains and unfold new levels of poverty.
The complex nature of risks, ambiguity and uncertainties must be integrated in planning and financing processes of various sectors. Therefore, competences and institutional capacities of decision-makers need to be strengthened towards risks informed development. The Global Initiative on Disaster Risk Management (GIDRM) and the Connective Cities GIZ programs have called and established on the occasion of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction #DRRday (13.10), the working group on “Risk Informed Urban Development” (RIUD).
Objective
The objective is to contribute to the identification of concrete project ideas for early-stage technical assistance on RIUD and climate change adaptation (CCA), context-specific to Southern Africa. In addition, the WG on RIUD will assist in developing scalable and/or replicable solutions, good practices, discussion and peer to peer exchange while building up a network of cities and experts, addressing flooding and extreme rainfall events, water and wastewater management and adaptation to climate vulnerabilities.
During the process, cities will be supported by peer-to-peer exchanges (“Insight Moments”) on tackling the issues of flooding and stormwater management; gain insight from champions of good DRM practices, tools, frameworks and innovative projects; and profit from a network of experts. This working group follows the UNDRR-Making Cities Resilient 2030 Roadmap to mainstream Risk-informed Development in decision making and is open to all interested in the region as well as on DRM, climate change management and sustainable urban development.
Expected outputs as well as “What’s in for you…”:
· Access to “Insight Moments” as tailored modules along the MCR 2030 Roadmap on DRM and climate adaptation given by experts based on the needs and gaps of member cities.
· Access different tools & methods, guidelines and/or documents as they become systemized.
· Develop evidence-based arguments for crafting messages to encourage RIUD and DRM in cities.
· Prepare and submit an “Expression of Interest” as prefeasibility financing proposal to the CCGF.
· Gain insight on DRM practice from champions showcasing their experience on risk governance, communication and awareness raising.
· Exchange experiences on coordination with different administrative units and levels.
· Network with other local authorities to collaborate on common challenges for RIUD.
· Identify fields of action for actors like academia, State, civil society, media, and the private sector.
· Ease in obtaining certificate of commitment to DRR and Resilience by UNDRR.
· Gain deeper insight into the New Leipzig Charter (2020) and contemporary urban development policy throughout Germany and Europe.
Participants
The main target of the WG on RIUD are city officials, DRM practitioners at all administrative levels (incl. national meteorological services, regional organizations, etc.), universities, research institutes, media, and the private sector interested and committed to the objective of RIUD.
Platform and technical requirements
The working groups’ activities will take place virtually and hosted on the Connective Cities Community of Practice under the Big Blue Button platform. Documented recordings of the MCR2030 “Insight Moments”, tools & methods, guidelines, codes and/or documents on RIUD will be accessible through the online Connective Cities platform.
Next steps
Participation requires registration under:
https://community.connective-cities.net/en/group/154/stream
To register as part of the WG on RIUD, and to access the program on the MCR2030 “Insight Moments” please follow: Working Group: Risk Informed Urban Development | GIDRM and Connective Cities Network (connective-cities.net). Further meetings will be scheduled according to the group members’ needs and availability.
Contact
· Ricarda Meissner, Senior Project Director Connective Cities at GIZ (ricarda.meissner@giz.de)
· Dr. Karl-Heinz Gaudry Sada, Project Advisor Global Initiative on Disaster Risk Management at GIZ (karl-heinz.gaudrysada@giz.de)