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City of Toronto launches major resilience-building initiative
Will help city prepare for events such as ice storms, flooding.
Staff on December 9, 2016
The City of Toronto in conjunction with 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) launched a major effort today to improve Toronto’s resilience to the shocks and stresses of an urban city. The initiative stems from Toronto’s acceptance earlier this year into the 100RC Network, a global community of cities working to build urban resilience, including three other Canadian cities – Calgary, Montreal and Vancouver.
“I am committed to improving how this city functions for the benefit of all who live, work and invest here,” said Mayor John Tory. “An important part of that involves taking a hard look at stresses for our city, such as housing and transit, and unplanned events, such as flooding and ice storms. We need to find innovative ways to address them so Toronto can continue to be one of the most livable and competitive cities in the world.”
More than 100 stakeholders from across city government and the private sector, non-profits, non-government organizations (NGOs), academia and civic groups joined Mayor Tory, City Manager Peter Wallace and staff of the 100 Resilient Cities initiative to kick start the development of a multi-sectoral resilience strategy Thursday. The workshop began the process of identifying priorities, actions and metrics. Toronto’s resilience strategy will be drafted over the next six to 12 months.
The City’s search for a Chief Resilience Officer (RCO), an innovative new position in city government funded through the 100RC partnership, is also underway. Toronto’s CRO will lead the city’s resilience efforts and continue to engage stakeholders, resilience experts and 100RC staff in drafting a comprehensive resilience strategy.
“Toronto is helping to fuel global momentum around building urban resilience, and is leading by example,” said Michael Berkowitz, President of 100 Resilient Cities. “The agenda-setting workshop will clarify the city’s needs, foster innovative thinking and give us a blueprint for engaging partners from across sectors to bring Toronto the tools and resources needed to become more resilient.”
100 Resilient Cities – Pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation, is dedicated to building urban resilience in 100 cities around the world. The 100 member cities span six continents and include London, New York, Bangkok and Rio de Janeiro. Through the network, Toronto gains access to tools, funding, resources and technical expertise that will help the city build resilience to physical, social and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century, and develop and implement a resilience strategy.
Each city in the 100RC network receives four types of support:
• financial and logistical guidance for establishing an innovative new position in city government, a Chief Resilience Officer, who will lead the city’s resilience efforts,
• technical support for the development of a robust Resilience Strategy,
• access to solutions, service providers, and partners from the private, public and NGO sectors to help to develop and implement their resilience strategies, and
• membership in a global network of cities that can learn from and help each other.
City of Toronto launches major resilience-building initiative
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