Evaluating Resilience for Forward-Thinking Urban Planning

The challenges posed by climate change and biodiversity loss necessitate a shift in urban and spatial planning to incorporate new methods, techniques, and strategies. Among the concepts that have gained prominence in recent years, resilience stands out as a key driver in redefining the disciplinary and technical boundaries of planning activities. Cities, viewed as complex socio-ecological systems, must be assessed based on their anthropogenic, environmental, social, economic, and institutional components, as well as the interconnections among these elements. While there are many theoretical definitions of resilience in urban and territorial contexts, there have been relatively few practical applications that successfully operationalize this concept. To address this gap, our research, conducted as part of the PNRR RETURN project titled “Multi-Risk Science for Resilient Communities Under a Changing Climate”, proposes methods and tools for measuring urban and territorial resilience. This approach integrates various dimensions of resilience and has been tested in the City of Turin.