Cities around the world are going through a period of unprecedented growth and change. This means that the infrastructure that keeps cities running — from schools and hospitals through to housing and roads — will come under increasing stress. Extreme weather events and terrorism will only add to this pressure. With global investment in infrastructure high, the conditions are right for cities to start prioritizing resilience.
At EY, we know that to grow and thrive, cities need to build infrastructure that’s resilient to these shocks and stresses. We also know that this kind of infrastructure has the potential to bring economic, social and physical benefits in the long term. This report is just the start of the conversation. We hope you’ll join us for the rest.”
Bill Banks, Global Infrastructure Leader, EY
Through the 100RC network of cities and partners, we’ve catalyzed a global movement of practitioners that embed resilience thinking into their planning and implementation. We’re excited to partner with EY to further integrate resilience thinking in both the private and public sectors.”
Elizabeth Yee, Vice President, City Solutions, 100RC, pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation
Getting real about resilience
Resilience is a city’s ability to respond, grow and thrive in the face of shocks, such as floods and terrorist attacks, and stresses, such as unaffordable housing and pressure on public services. Much of the burden for this is borne by infrastructure. Cities that build resilience into their infrastructure projects do five things:
- Incorporate systems thinking into their decision-making, taking into account shocks and stresses.
- Engage with diverse stakeholder communities in the planning process
- Integrate projects within a broader city vision that includes vulnerable populations
- Assess and build projects based on the long-term environmental, social and economic benefits, and ability to withstand short-term disruptions.
- Recognize that infrastructure needs to adapt to new and unforeseen challenges
Three reasons to prioritize resilience
1 study, 2 organizations, 3 key findings
EY partnered with 100RC on this study with an aim to explore how government and the private sector currently build urban resilience thinking into their infrastructure programs. We also wanted to ask how those groups could engage with each other better to plan, procure, deliver, finance and measure the costs and benefits of these types of investments. This would allow us to establish what good looks like, and recommend how city governments and the private sector could get there.
What our study said
When asked how well they understand and apply resilience thinking, policy makers and private sector players rate themselves (and each other) very differently.
City governments think they understand the challenges of urban resilience relatively better than others think they do. City governments also rate the private sector’s ability to incorporate resilience thinking into infrastructure projects more highly than the private sector itself does.
Applying resilience thinking throughout the lifecycle of a project is a challenge for both city governments and the private sector.
Overall, resilience thinking is strongest at the earliest stages of the project lifecycle. After that, it drops off — with financing the weakest point. Our study also revealed that city governments and the private sector are stronger and weaker at different stages of the cycle.
Neither the private nor the public sector is confident that there are sufficient incentives to consistently incorporate resilience thinking into infrastructure projects.
The survey showed that the private sector has some appetite to fund or build resilience thinking into its projects. But more than 50% of public and private sector respondents say that insufficient regulatory incentives, and activating new revenue streams, are a challenge.
How to get real about resilience
At EY and 100RC, we work with cities to help them build resilience into their infrastructure projects. So we’ve included suggestions from our survey respondents, along with things we’ve learned from our work with clients on how to close the current perception gaps between city governments and the private sector:
City governments need to put words into action. It isn’t enough to engage stakeholders and build resilience into planning guidelines. For the private sector to integrate resilience into its work, policy makers need to ensure resilience strategy translates into action — then make sure strategy translates into action.
The private sector needs an incentive to incorporate resilience thinking into its work. That means it needs to understand the benefits that the city is seeking to achieve and how that affects its ROI. By clearly articulating the systemic impacts of the projects it’s pursuing, the private sector can improve the prospects of future projects.
For suggestions from EY/100RC across all of the stages of the infrastructure lifecycle, download the full report.
Contact us
EY
George Atalla
Global Government & Public Sector Leader
+1 703 747 1548
Bill Banks
Global Infrastructure Leader
+61 2 9248 4522
Rebecca Hiscock-Croft
Senior Strategic Analyst,
Government & Public Sector
+1 212 773 5532
Rockefeller Foundation 100 Resilient Cities
Elizabeth Yee
Vice President, City Solutions
100 Resilient Cities, pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation
+1 646 612 7167
Scott Rosenstein
Head of Research
100 Resilient Cities, pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation
+1 646 612 7157
Rebecca Laberenne
Associate Director
Innovation in the Built Environment
100 Resilient Cities, pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation
+1 646 612 7251