Thank you for attending one of our Resilient Infrastructures round-tables at the Smart City event in Amsterdam. Understanding the need for resilient infrastructures and planning for future resilience are crucial for all cities. However, the interaction between the multiple inter-related systems and the associated stakeholder groups make the challenge complex. In this respect, both the Smart City event itself, and your valuable input during the round-table discussions, provided an excellent opportunity to gain shared insight on the subect based on multiple different perspectives.

As part of our follow-up from the event, we are sharing the key conclusions reached across all three round-table discussions ; these are listed below. If you have any related questions, please feel free to contact me. In addition, you can find more information on Smart Green Cities and Resilience on our website and blogs.

Conclusions – Resilient Infrastructures round-table

• It was recognised that, while resilience is not currently high on the agendas of most cities and companies, most participants could give examples of  real events that would have had less negative impact had there been an effective resilience strategy in place. Across all three sessions, participants could provide only a couple of examples of organisations that had made resilience part of their decision-making process.

• It was agreed that a city can be regarded as a system of systems and that interdependencies between infrastructures – e.g. energy, water, transport – should be taken into account when discussing resilient infrastructure strategies or plans.

• Participants in all sessions concluded that resilience needed to be on the agenda of both governments and private companies. No agreement was reached on who should take the lead in developing resilience strategy, with attendees being split on whether it was more logical for national, local or sub-regional governments or for companies to take on this role.

• During one session, it was concluded that ‘we’ (i.e. society, local government, owners and operators of infrastructures) should have access to on-line data to improve the operation of infrastructure during or after extreme events, although there was doubt about whether this could be made available when needed. Participants agreed that action is required to ensure that this is possible as part of any resilience strategy.

Thanks you once again for you participation.

Frits Verheij, DNV GL