Page 37 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 2

Çiğdem Coşkun Hepcan

Resilient cities have the flexibility to adapt to the effects of current and
future disasters and climate change, and the ability to keep the intensity of
these effects at a certain level (World Bank-GFDRR, 2015, Figueiredo et al,
2018). Resilience is the result of inter-related actions that develop over time
(Asian Development Bank, 2014).
The systems in cities are related to each other within a complicated system.
For this reason, cities can be defined as the system of systems. For various
reasons, problems experienced in one sentence may affect the way others
operate, which may cause disruptions in services. Urban floodings could lead
transport systems to be out of order for a while. High temperatures, extreme
cold and strong winds may damage energy lines. This may lead disruptions in
essential services and prevent prompt action especially in regions in need of
immediate support. For urban resilience, there is need for urban systems (such
as transportation, waste, industry, energy, food, health, natural infrastructure,
water systems, social systems, etc.) to work in coordination. There is also a
need for establishing a holistic balance between human life and built and
natural environments.
Rendering cities resilient requires identification of the threats and risks,
minimizing exposure, being prepared for emergencies, increasing adaptation
capacity and mitigating vulnerability (ICLEI, 2019). To this end, it is particularly
essential to increase the resilience of social systems, developing the adaptation
capacity of sensitive and vulnerable groups (Erdoğan and Cantürk, 2022).

For this reason, there is need for developing an approach that focus on
human and economic development along with nature. Nature-based solutions
are an effective means to be used for this purpose.

2. Nature and Ecosystem Based Solutions

Nature-based Solutions, which are live/ living solutions developed to
various environmental issues, benefit ecological, social and economic systems
to a great extent, and are supported by natural processes and structures
(European Commission, 2016). Nature-based solutions are also referred to as
nature dependent solutions in various sources.
For living beings (especially human beings) to maintain their lives, there is
need for ecosystems that operate efficiently and the benefits offered by these
ecosystems (ecosystem services). Based on this principle (Frantzeskaki, 2019;
Seddon et al, 2019), these solutions aim to preserve ecosystems, manage
these systems in a sustainable manner, repair the disrupted ecosystems
similar to natural systems, increase the resilience of ecosystems, and maintain
economic services (Naumann et al, 2014; Klaushen, 2019).

23 Journal of Environment, Urbanization and Climate