Exploring the Interface and Lessons for Resilience-focused Urban Planning in Zimbabwe

Abstract

This article argues that urban areas face a multitude of risks that are likely to worsen, due to climate change. Traditional blueprint planning commonly practised in cities of the developing world tends to be top-down and not fit for the dynamic urban future. Planners have not kept  pace with changing urban systems and processes that have tended  to accentuate  social and economic risks. A resilience-focused urban planning integrating  socio-economic, political  and physical drivers of city growth  and change enables urban residents to leap forward, rather than bounce back to worse conditions that cause disasters. A resilience-informed  urban planning approach should not only focus on the technical or engineering designs of the city, but also on  socio-political  and evolutionary processes  that consider  urban settlers as rational change agencies who are capable of defining their future. Challenges, including urban informality, are not necessarily hazards to be ruthlessly dealt with, but potentials  to strengthen livelihoods  and become pathways  to resilience  if planners  adopt  a resilience-focused  planning approach. An understanding of disaster risks and city resilience processes and drivers that are normally context specific is pertinent if urban planning  is to promote resilience-building and contribute towards sustainable development.