World’s most resilient cities and how to become one

By 2050, 2/3 of the world population will be living in urban areas

Do you live in the city? Have you ever wondered what it would be like 30 years later when almost 70 percent of the people around the world live in the city, as you do? As climate change accelerates, do our cities have the ability to recover?

The challenges posed by population growth and climate change seem to be inevitable. But don’t be terrified! This January, Delta Foundation collaborated with the world-renowned think tank, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) and produced a re-port that analyzes the urban resilience planning and the renewable energy initiatives of 66 cities around the world. By studying the measures taken by these exemplary cities, we will be able to turn this crisis into an opportunity!

Devising a perfect public transport networks to allow easy green travel
First of all, how should a city’s public transport network be designed so that transportation can be eco-friendly and convenient and can also cope with its overwhelming numbers of passenger loads? One of the viable options is multimodal transportation, which is to estab-lish various modes of transport in the city to effectively reduce traffic congestion and the en-vironmental impact of road transport traffic.

Furthermore, transit-oriented-development (TOD) is also another avenue worth taking a look at. This concept originated in the U.S. and places a particular emphasis on how the gov-ernment should not only consider the revitalization of a transport station during public transport planning, but also should promote the development of the neighboring areas and job creation. Also, the design ought to be pedestrian friendly as well as providing plenty of walking space. A comprehensive TOD strategy should include the following elements:

1.    Giving priority to providing a good pedestrian infrastructure;
2.    Having the transport station as the center of the city in its urban planning;
3.    Developing a square in front of the transport station;
4.    Using a neighboring mixed-use zone (business, residential, and retail areas) as the transport hub (10-minute walk);
5.    Public transport transfer options (light rail, bus, etc.);
6.    Auxiliary tools for bicycles and scooters;
7.    Integrating the bicycle-sharing system and cycling network into the transport network of the station;
8.    Offering convenient amenities in the transport station (cafes, supermarkets, dry cleaning shops, etc.);
9.    Reducing parking spaces within a 10-minute walk of the city center/transport station.

For example, the capital of Chile, Santiago, boasts the aforementioned designs. To encour-age cycling and hiking, the Chile’s government set up a 400 km-long multipurpose bike path in the surrounding agricultural district of the capital. Also, additional bike parking spots were installed and a pioneering movement that espouse multimodal transportation has been initi-ated. In the meantime, Buenos Aires in Argentina proactively adopts TOD. With the mixed-use areas as the center for development, Buenos Aires is planning to build a new 16km un-derground tunnel that is expected to connect the existing 800 km-long underground system in the city.

Stable power supply and energy-efficient architecture: prerequisites for urban resili-ence
Apart from transportation, stable power supply is also a major indicator for urban resilience. The report elaborates on the initiatives for renewable energy and distributed generation, which ensure alternative solutions in case of a power grid failure during natural disasters.

For instance, Los Angeles has already committed to transitioning its energy use for munici-pal utilities to 70% renewable electricity by 2030. What’s more, it aims to go 100% renewa-ble power by 2050. Currently, the city of Los Angeles has launched plans for solar energy and energy storage trials in municipal buildings. The ultimate goal is to promote “energy in-dependence” to regions susceptible to natural disasters.

In addition, buildings with good exterior insulation against cold weather/heat are tremen-dously helpful during disasters. The main reason is that they can maintain a comfortable in-door temperature during disasters and act as a shelter for people. Moreover, these buildings are more energy-efficient in normal day-to-day life, which is conducive to reduce daily peak demand on an electrical grid and to prevent power outages. This is why many cities, includ-ing New York and Chicago, continue to demand that public and residential buildings to dis-close their energy consumption information regularly and to renovate energy systems so that the energy consumption of buildings can be reduced and grid stabilization can be en-sured.

It is worth noting that energy equality, an issue rarely raised in Taiwan, is also mentioned in the report. The best example of this concept is Honolulu. The local government discovered that the local transportation is 34% more expensive than that on the mainland United States. In order to offer low-carbon commuting for people with little or no access to energy services, Honolulu has begun a program for buying used cars with high carbon emissions and low efficiency from middle or low income residents, as well as offering discounts on electric ve-hicles and rewards for using public transport.

In the meantime, since the subtropical Taiwan is also threatened by extreme weather events, what should be done to make sure that the city’s normal production and normal life of urban residents can be maintained? In fact, many actions can be taken. And the most im-portant one is touched upon by the report, that is, Taiwan is often faced with landslides and power line damage due to extremely heavy rainfall. Therefore, to strengthen disaster resili-ence in communities and remote areas, the local governments ought to give priority to de-centralizing power generation systems and developing micro-grids (renewable energy, en-ergy storage system, EV, and vehicle to building technology).