The Day After Tomorrow! There's A Brit Standard For It

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29 May 2019

The British Standards Institution has published a new Standard to help preserve the health and wellbeing of cities in the face of rapid urban expansion, climate change or disruptive events such as pandemics.

BS 67000 City Resilience has been developed with the support of the World Bank, UNISDR, UN Habitat, OECD and representatives from UK cities.

This new British Standard provides practical guidance and tools highlighting how to organise, prioritise, plan and deliver increased city resilience through a process of continual improvement. The organisation involved believe it would allow our cities to enhance their ability to absorb and adapt in a changing environment. A statement reads: 'Such resilience will minimise the disruptive and deflating effect of shocks and stresses on city strategy and future direction'.

Framework

All parts of this standard, in some way, have been applied in cities somewhere in the world, and are captured within a framework that provides a path to future city resilience evolution. That framework supports:

• Consistency in the language used within and between organisations.
• A reliable process to steer users through activities and interactions.
• An interoperable system so that resilient approaches can be developed incrementally, taking city scale and bespoke needs into account.
• The ability to share best practice and approaches to common issues.
• More agile planning, systems resilience and performance measures.
• A set of guidance documents that fit together to make the picture progressively coherent.

Anne Hayes, Director of Sectors at BSI, said: “The potential cost and risk around not building resilience into our cities is concerning. As the impact following shocks, disasters or even social tension and disruption could devastate a city, its ability to recover will not be through luck and hope but by proper continuity preparation and its agility to respond. This standard supports those responsible to advise and guide readers through the various scenarios from preparation to aftermath, to tackle future challenges and exploit opportunities.”

Greater Manchester was one of the representative cities involved in the developing of the new standard.

Deputy Mayor for Policing, Crime, Criminal Justice and Fire in Greater Manchester, Beverley Hughes, said: “Resilience has been a constant throughout Greater Manchester’s history. Looking to the future, it remains critical as we continue to face risks associated with climate change, including flooding and rising temperatures; the increasing inter-connectivity of our world, such as supply chain failures; and other unexpected changes, shocks, and disruptions."

BS 67000 City Resilience has been produced in consultation with over 200 senior city stakeholders from across the UK and drawing on best practice from across the globe. It is intended for use by all stakeholders  who contribute to city resilience.

To obtain your priced copy - Click Here

Picture: BSI has developed a Standard to help preserve the health and wellbeing of cities in the face of disruptive events.

Article written by Cathryn Ellis | Published 29 May 2019

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