This content was originally published on The Resilience Shift website. The Resilience Shift, a 5-year programme supported by Lloyd’s Register Foundation and hosted by Arup, transitioned at the end of 2021 to become Resilience Rising. You can read more about The Resilience Shift’s journey and the transition to Resilience Rising here.
Download this suite of resources to help you collaboratively build resilience to local water challenges.
You can now download the step by step methodology to enable you to use the City Water Resilience Approach, as shared at World Water Week 2019.
The City Water Resilience Approach has been developed in response to cities’ needs for tools and approaches to help them and their stakeholders navigate the process of building resilience. It can be used by public and private organisations, representatives from national and regional government, cities, utilities, catchment and basin authorities, the private sector and civil society groups.
Supported by the Resilience Shift and the Rockefeller Foundation, this new Approach was developed by Arup and the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) with support from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It includes resources that will help the cities carry out each step of the process.
The City Water Resilience Approach has been developed to be a robust peer-reviewed approach with custom-designed tools designed to benefit those making decisions to assure water resilience for their city. It can help you to plan, design, implement and maintain water programmes and projects to improve outcomes for urban populations who rely on safe water systems for their health and wellbeing.
These tools include the City Water Resilience Framework, which is a globally applicable water resilience framework to assess the strengths and weakness of the urban water system and Our Water, an online tool to improve water governance through coordination and knowledge-sharing between actors working in the water system.
Implementing the CWRA
The implementation of the CWRA has begun in the first pilot cities and this work is captured in the City Water Resilience Profile for each city.
Hull Water Resilience Profile (CWRA)
The Hull Water Resilience Profile represents an opportunity to continue regional efforts to build resilience capacity and explore strategies, through multiple lenses, to improve the water security of the region.
Cape Town Water Resilience Profile (CWRA)
The Water Resilience Profiles for Cape Town and Greater Miami provide an opportunity to see how the CWRA brings stakeholders together to develop a comprehensive assessment of water management in a city and translate this diagnosis into opportunities to improve the water resilience of the city.
Greater Miami Water Resilience Profile (CWRA)
The Water Resilience Profiles for Cape Town and Greater Miami provide an opportunity to see how the CWRA brings stakeholders together to develop a comprehensive assessment of water management in a city and translate this diagnosis into opportunities to improve the water resilience of the city.
CWRA pioneers explaining the Approach
Dr Fred Boltz introduces the City Water Resilience Approach as the most advanced work in the field of urban water resilience diagnosis and design. He sets it in the context of the water resilience and climate crisis challenges faced by our planet and recognised by the Global Commission on Adaptation.
Louise Ellis talks us through the City Water Resilience Approach explaining the five core principles, collaborative partners behind its development, cities involved, and the robust peer-reviewed process followed and implementation in the first two cities, Cape Town and Greater Miami.
Louise Ellis talks us through the five steps of the City Water Resilience Approach methodology as the most advanced work in the field of urban water resilience diagnosis and design. Finally she announces a call to action to create an urban water resilience community of practice.
Background work on resilient water governance
Resilient Water Governance
We have developed a water governance approach and associated tools for resilient water systems to improve the resilience of the urban water system. A city water resilience community of practice has been announced for interested parties.
Influencing the water sector
With our partners, we are putting water resilience at the heart of global policy. Find out more about our partnerships and influence activities below.
CWRA Publications
The conclusions of the desk research, literature review and fieldwork, are published together in the City Water Resilience Approach and Literature Review.
Using the City Water Resilience Approach – a step by step methodology
The City Water Resilience Approach takes city water stakeholders through the key stages from system mapping, resilience assessment to option identification and prioritisation, whilst recognising all of the complexities referred to above. This paper outlines the methodology behind this approach.
City Water Resilience Approach – Reflections from Bellagio
This document reports on the discussions from the Bellagio Forum as regarding their advancement of the City Water Resilience Approach initiative.
City Water Resilience Approach Literature Review
This report describes preliminary research from phase one of the The City Water Resilience Approach project that allows cities to measure the resilience of their urban water system. The approach is developed based on a review of relevant literature and assessment of the resources currently available to cities for building water resilience.
City Water Resilience Approach
The City Water Resilience Approach details five steps to guide cities through initial stakeholder engagement and baseline assessment, through action planning, implementation and monitoring of new initiatives that build water resilience.
OurWater
OurWater is an online collaboration tool addressing the need for joined-up governance, by helping cities share information about local water management and interdependencies. It is being shared as a prototype that has been developed and tested with a range of users, with a request to register your interest for further news about the tool which aims to launch later in 2019.
City Reports
Working with 100 Resilient Cities the project team collaborated with eight cities globally to understand their urban water system, governance, interdependencies between water and other systems, and the factors contributing to the resilience. The individual City Characterisation Reports are published for Amman, Cape Town, Hull, Manchester, Mexico City, Miami, Rotterdam and Thessaloniki.
City Characterisation Report: Addis Ababa
This report is part of the African Urban Water Resilience Initiative and supports pathways towards urban water resilience in post COVID-19 recovery.
City Characterisation Report: Amman
This report details research undertaken in Amman to define the city water basin, the urban water system and its governance structure, and the interdependencies with other systems; and to identify the factors contributing to the resilience of the city water system and those increasing its vulnerability.
City Characterisation Report: Cape Town
This report details research undertaken in Cape Town to define the city water basin, the urban water system and its governance structure, and the interdependencies with other systems; and to identify the factors contributing to the resilience of the city water system and those increasing its vulnerability.
City Characterisation Report: Greater Manchester
This report details research undertaken in Greater Manchester to define the city water basin, the urban water system and its governance structure, and the interdependencies with other systems; and to identify the factors contributing to the resilience of the city water system and those increasing its vulnerability.
City Characterisation Report: Hull
This report details research undertaken in Hull to define the city water basin, the urban water system and its governance structure, and the interdependencies with other systems; and to identify the factors contributing to the resilience of the city water system and those increasing its vulnerability.
City Characterisation Report: Mexico City
This report details research undertaken in Mexico City to define the city water basin, the urban water system and its governance structure, and the interdependencies with other systems; and to identify the factors contributing to the resilience of the city water system and those increasing its vulnerability.
City Characterisation Report: Miami
This report details research undertaken in Miami to define the city water basin, the urban water system and its governance structure, and the interdependencies with other systems; and to identify the factors contributing to the resilience of the city water system and those increasing its vulnerability.
City Characterisation Report: Rotterdam
This report details research undertaken in Rotterdam to define the city water basin, the urban water system and its governance structure, and the interdependencies with other systems; and to identify the factors contributing to the resilience of the city water system and those increasing its vulnerability.
City Characterisation Report: Thessaloniki
This report details research undertaken in Thessaloniki to define the city water basin, the urban water system and its governance structure, and the interdependencies with other systems; and to identify the factors contributing to the resilience of the city water system and those increasing its vulnerability.
We’re excited about continuing to forge the path to a more resilient water supply and management approach in the spirit and recognition of our unique interconnected and interdependent ‘one water’ system. The City Water Resilience Approach fosters collaboration, a priority echoed by stakeholders during the fieldwork engagement process.
Hardeep Anand, Deputy Director, Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Department
