Action for Resilience

These cities have implemented UN-Habitat’s City Resilience Profiling Tool


Actions for Resilience

Developing a Resilient and Sustainable City requires implementing actions that address the most pressing challenges. Combining quantitative and qualitative approaches, we diagnose the urban performance and determine the city's risk profile. Each city's unique context, existing management processes, and urban development strategies determine the actions to take.
ACTIONS FOR RESILIENCE
INTEGRATIVE ACTIONS ACTION A ACTION B ACTION D ACTION C LINE OF ACTION 1 LINE OF ACTION 2 LINE OF ACTION 3

Multi-stakeholder multi-sector coordination

Action A
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Multi-stakeholder multi-sector coordination

ACTION A: Establishing and operationalizing Yakutsk Resilience Board

  • To ensure holistic vision, awareness, input and cohesive action among the various sectors and stakeholders.
  • Comprised of members from different departments within the municipality and representatives from private, as well as civil society and nongovernmental organisations that could address the resilience challenges in the city.
Provided proposal for Terms of Reference of Yakutsk’s Resilience Board based on the existing model in Barcelona and work in other partner cities.

Relevant up-to-date and accessible data

Action B
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Relevant up-to-date and accessible data

ACTION B: Collecting, monitoring and sharing data through City Resilience Indicators and Open Data Platform

Action B.1: Collect and monitor City Resilience Indicators:
  • Continued collection and monitoring of City Resilience Indicators in order to deepen the resilience analysis of Yakutsk
  • Provided possibility of measuring the impact of the actions and plans addressed to improve its resilience status and capacities.
Provided UN Habitat City Resilience Profiling Indicators

Action B.2: Create an Open Data Platform to promote community participation
  • Development and publishing of an Open Data Platform to get maximum benefits from the information managed by Yakutsk, by releasing useful information that can be used for developing both research and new products, fostering economic development in the area and supporting the efficiency of public services.
Provided Open Data Platform Strategic Guidelines

KNOWLEDGE-GENERATION AND SHARING

Action C
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KNOWLEDGE-GENERATION AND SHARING

ACTION C: Leveraging City-to-City Networks through Arctic Resilient and Sustainable Cities Network proposal

  • To Initiate a city-to-city network focusing on a comprehensive climate change and urban resilience approach in Arctic Cities that can learn from each other to address key urban challenges, shocks and stresses.
Provided proposal for Terms of Reference of a potential Arctic Resilient and Sustainable Cities Network.

TRANSFORMATIVE SOLUTIONS IMPLEMENTATION

Action D
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TRANSFORMATIVE SOLUTIONS IMPLEMENTATION

ACTION D: Committing for transformation through a Manifesto

  • To create a Manifesto committing to ambitious resilience and sustainability targets
  • To work towards a shift of paradigm in order to enhance city’s resilience regarding ecological and climatic challenges in the context of current and upcoming environmental, economic and social changes.

Provided an underlying document that publicly declares core values and key principles of a resilient and sustainable city in the context of highly-environmentally sensitive sub-Arctic..

LINE OF ACTION 1

IMPROVING BUILT ENVIRONMENT AND PROTECTING PERMAFROST

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In Yakutsk, technogenic pressures and the rapidly changing climatic conditions leading to permafrost thawing are a major concern, with much of the infrastructure and buildings affected.

To improve and finally overcome this unstable situation of the built environment in Yakutsk, an iterative process for building a strong knowledge base and learning curve about these matters is proposed through this line of action.

This aims to provoke discussion and bring knowledge to the table, as well as find potential solutions for the application and enforcement of laws and rules on permafrost protection.

The final concretion of this specific Line of Action will be the development of Climate - resilient Yakutsk guidelines, with a Resilient Design & Innovation Construction Hub observing and monitoring them. This would take into consideration the Permafrost data collection and potential new insurance protocols related to existing and new buildings, public open spaces and neighbourhood with different specificities and scales.

Technical assessments and initiatives regarding construction and operational maintenance are compulsory and should go along with pilot projects and excellent practices led by training programmes to boost technical knowledge and protect permafrost, with the co-benefits of enhancing employment opportunities for youth and artisans within the city and beyond.

ACTION 1.1: Resilient Design & Innovation Construction Hub

  • Creating a body that would be a catalyst for change in building techniques and an advocate for permafrost protection
  • Bringing together knowledge and expertise of different actors for an inter-organizational cooperation, dialogue and knowledge sharing
  • Helping Yakutsk become a reference regarding permafrost knowledge related to construction.

ACTION 1.2: PERMAFROST DATA COLLECTION AND PERMAFROST INSURANCE PROGRAM (PIP)

  • Initiating a process of data collection and monitoring of permafrost condition in the city that would form a foundation for permafrost insurance schemes and market in Yakutsk
  • Institutionalising permafrost insurance as part of the building industry in the city that would not only reduce exposure to risk and provide speedy recovery, but also promote investments and encourage better building techniques to avail of lower insurance premiums

ACTION 1.3: CONSTRUCTION CHALLENGE PROGRAMME

  • The Construction Challenge Programme aims to transform the construction and operations sectors - enabling to design, build and maintain safe, permafrost-protective and healthy buildings and spaces that follow eco-measures to revert current environmental degradation.

ACTION 1.4: PILOT PROJECT “RESILIENT QUARTER”

  • Transforming the way in which the urban space is used, allowing the city to test solutions that could be later replicated or applied to a larger scale, including testing some of the projects from the 1.3 action on Challenge Programme

ACTION 1.5: resilient design and construction training programme

  • The resilient design and construction training programme is proposed to enable students to assume and consolidate tasks of maximum responsibility in the field of design and construction towards climate resilience and permafrost protection.

ACTION 1.6: YAKUTSK CLIMATE-RESILIENT BUILDING GUIDELINES

  • Providing climate resilient building guidelines to protect permafrost, respect the environment and open a window of opportunity for new construction techniques and construction business models.

LINE OF ACTION 2

Enhancing social Inclusion and cohesion

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This line of action is designed to build upon the existing measures already being conducted in the city through a series of interlinked actions focused on vulnerable groups who experience various barriers to meaningful engagement and participation.

To improve the resilience of the city of Yakutsk, it is essential to intentionally recognise these different categories and increasingly include them in policies and decision-making processes.

The municipality should continue developing schemes for the various vulnerable groups in the city, particularly as they emerge from the implementation of this line of action.

The Dialogue Network corresponds to the need for a multi-stakeholder multi-sector approach that will create a venue for participation, while the Participatory Mapping with Vulnerable Groups promotes recognition of their knowledge and experiences.

Using these platforms as a jumping off point, the municipality can begin to develop more inclusive programmes and projects, which can involve encouraging the ingenuity of their citizens through the Social Impacts Projects Generator, and creating transformative actions for specific vulnerable groups, such as an Intergenerational Living Scheme for the elderly, an Alternate Housing First Scheme for the homeless, and a Welcome & Integration Scheme for newcomers to the city.

Action 2.2: Participatory Mapping with Vulnerable Groups

  • Directly involving vulnerable groups and communities in the development of the city through gathering their local knowledge and including this as essential data in different policy and planning frameworks.
  • Serving as a venue for interaction and sharing between the government and the community, and among the community members, especially their vulnerable constituents.

Action 2.1: Yakutsk Dialogue Network (for Vulnerable Groups and Communities)

  • Promoting dialogue among different government levels and non-government actors in order to identify, raise awareness on and address the needs of the vulnerable groups and communities in Yakutsk.
  • Uncovering gaps in communication flows particularly for those in vulnerable situations, and designing an effective communication pathway to quickly and efficiently spread information.

Action 2.3: Social Impact Projects Generator

  • Encouraging the creation, implementation and scaling up of innovative solutions for social issues in Yakutsk through tapping on the potential of the citizens and linking them to possible financial support.

Action 2.4 Intergenerational Living Scheme

  • Improving quality of life and decrease isolation among vulnerable elderly population, specifically those who need the services of elderly care facilities,
  • At the same time, deriving co-benefits to various other groups such as soft skills for children, affordable housing to low-income youth and young families, among others.

Action 2.5: Welcome and Integration Scheme

  • Ensuring social adaptation and integration of newcomers, particularly rural and labour migrants to the city, as well as enhancing the welcoming culture of Yakutsk.
  • Reducing the barriers faced by newcomers to Yakutsk through a combination of improved information, communication and engagement with communities

Action 2.6: Alternative Housing First Scheme

  • Reducing the number of chronically homeless people in Yakutsk through a alternative housing first approach, lessening their exposure to risks and increasing their chances to return to society.
  • Opening an additional shelter that could cater specifically for the needs of chronically homeless people in Yakutsk. conceived and developed as a new typology: a space that is something between a home and a street, and used similarly to how a homeless person inhabits a street. This would act as a transitional accommodation so they can begin adjusting to permanent housing.

LINE OF ACTION 3

Stimulating the circular economy

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The city of Yakutsk has recently placed significant efforts to stimulate its local economy and already has a robust support system capacity both at a local and regional levels in SMEs advisory support, business incubating and entrepreneurship stimulation. However, generally, these initiatives have not prioritised sustainability issues nor focused on circularity concepts. Initiatives with specific sustainability and circular objectives are few, with disperse information available on them.

The Circular Economy Network corresponds to the need for the multi-stakeholder multi-sector approach essential to establish this new paradigm in the city, the Scoping Study provides information on the possibilities and contribute to open data generation and decision making, the Circular Innovations Fab Lab encourages the participation of citizens to sharing knowledge and creating solutions.

The remaining 3 actions provide concrete mechanisms to support the process of transforming the city: Matchmaking Platform & Online Marketplace, to bring people together and create circular opportunities; Sustainable Local Procurement Protocol, to promote and support circular measures in all local government activities; and Separate Waste Management, to enhance community-level involvement in circularity.

Action 3.2: Scoping Study

  • Helping the city discover and prioritise circular opportunities by analyzing incoming and outgoing material and resources flows with the help of a digital open-access tool Circle City Scan or other similar scoping studies.

Action 3.1: Circular Economy Network

  • Fostering a multi-sector, inter-organizational collaboration by promoting a network of organizations, citizens and entrepreneurs working on transition towards a circular economy committed to sustainable goals development.

Action 3.3: Circular Innovation Fabrication Lab (Fab Lab)

  • Providing an open-access venue for all citizens to learn, create and collaborate on different projects in accordance with the circular and sustainable principles, and for the city to foster circular economy transition through innovation, design and non-economic incentives.

Action 3.4: Matchmaking Platform and Marketplace

  • Providing an open-access matchmaking platform for industrial synergy boosting and capacity building.

Action 3.5: Separate Waste Collection and Management

  • Providing an alternative to conventional waste disposal by introducing a system for separate waste collection and recycling, which would take reusable and recyclable materials out from the waste cycle and convert it into new materials.

Action 3.6: Sustainable Local Procurement Guidelines

  • Introducing circularity criteria and standards to the municipal public procurement protocols and public tender requirements,
  • Ensuring the inclusion of the sustainability agenda and reflect city’s resource efficiency sourcing priorities, and
  • Supporting the growth of circular enterprises.