Glasgow was one of the first cities to join the Resilient Cities programme supported by the Rockefeller Foundation and has now published its Resilience Strategy, the first UK city to do so. The approach taken by the City to the development of the Strategy was one of the features of the City's presentation at the PASCAL Learning Cities conference in June.
The focus of the strategy is on the City's continuing transformation from its traditional industrial base to a modern city economy which offers opportunities for all and leads to a strong, sustainable economy. The development of the strategy was informed through extensive consultation and innovative processes of community engagement which involved over 3500 city residents.
The strategy is structured around 4 pillars and 15 goals, which together comprise the long-term strategy for Glasgow's resilience. Briefly, the 4 pillars emphasise:
- equitable and inclusive access to public services, the creation of safe places for community discussion and empowerment of communnity leaders;
- adoption of place-based solutions to unlock the potential of vacant sites and using existing assets where possible, for example in the use of canal-based regeneration, and the city's Thriving Places initiative;
- adoption of new urban solutions through best-practice learning and increasing skills in the population, and from promoting a post-industrial city sub-group from among the 100 resilient cities in the Rockefeller programme;
- building capacity in communities and among city decision-makers to apply resilience thinking.
The strategy summary and the full document can be accessed through bit.ly/2bFDBqg .
The strategy and its implementation demonstrate many features of a learning city, and could be a model for others to follow.