Starting Friday, the city has yet another innovative framework to cope with disaster and civic issues. Representatives from the city’s local government, private sector, NGOs and civil society participated in an agenda-setting workshop, “Towards a resilient Chennai” here on Friday.
The workshop marked the beginning of the city’s participation in the innovative global urban resilience initiative. 100 Resilient Cities on Friday also began the process of developing a comprehensive resilience strategy that will enable the city to survive, adapt and grow, coping with chronic stresses and acute shocks in the future.
Corporation Commissioner Vikram Kapur led a team of over 20 officials including Deputy Commissioners, Regional Deputy Commissioners and Chief Engineers at the workshop. Speaking at the workshop, Mr. Kapur said, “The 100 Resilient Cities initiative has chosen Chennai to be a part of its global network. This will help us to develop tools to address the shocks and stresses that affect Chennai and access the 100RC network to understand and adapt solutions from other cities in the world.”
Vikram Singh, Associate Director, City Relationships, 100 Resilient Cities - Pioneered by Rockefeller Foundation, said, “The Corporation was welcomed into the 100 Resilient Cities global network today. At the agenda-setting workshop, stakeholders discussed the acute shocks and chronic stresses facing the city, such as flooding and rapid urbanisation. Upon formalisation of this relationship, Chennai will form a resilience strategy to explore adaptive solutions to these issues. In the meantime, the Corporation will consider appointing a Chief Resilience Officer to lead this effort within the city.”
A comprehensive resilience strategy is expected to address issues caused by immigration, peripheral settlements in low-lying coastal areas and flood risk. In addition to Chennai Corporation, representatives from the Institute of Transportation and Development Policy, IIT-Madras and companies such as HP will identify priorities, actions and metrics as part of a resilience strategy for Chennai. The plan will be drafted over the next 6-12 months.
