Development of Urban Ecological Resilience Model

Man’s most complex products, cities are confronted with great risks due to both the wide range of risks and changes involved in them and their multiple vulnerabilities. These changes include numerous disorders, some of which are known and predictable, while most are unpredictable and beyond expectation. It therefore seems necessary to address the modern approaches to encountering disorders and disasters. The prevailing perspective has shifted from a mere focus on vulnerability and reinforcement to an increase in resilience against disorder. Therefore, the current research was focused on the idea of resilience as a newly-emerging concept in urbanism issues, and sought to enhance the capability of cities of confronting disorders, particularly environmental crises, as dynamic, self-organizing systems by introducing the notion of resilience to the domain of urbanization through formulation of an integrated model. The significance of the present paper lay in the appreciation of urban resilience thinking as a tool for recognition of the capabilities of urban systems of adapting to changes or absorbing disorders by helping to understand the dynamicity, complexity, processes, and patterns in these systems. Through knowledge of this thinking and the factors affecting its different aspects, the capability of socio-ecological systems such as cities could be increased for adaptation to changes and self-organization. The purpose of this paper was to analyze ecological resilience and determine the factors effective on it based on urban ecology thinking, to identify the criteria, and to generate a model for enhancement of the ecological resilience of cities. It was a qualitative study, where the data were collected from multiple sources using various library methods to be validated through triangulation. Thematic analysis and the thematic network tool were used for data analysis. Through identification of around 45 themes, obtained through examination of more than 50 theoretical and applied studies, and analysis of the relationships between them, the thematic network resulting from their clustering was formulated, consisting of basic, organizing, and comprehensive themes. Based on the qualitative analysis, a series of factors most effective on urban resilience were categorized into six major groups that formed the proposed urban ecological resilience scheme, including natural structure, ecosystem functions and processes, socio-economic functions and processes, urban shape, institutions, and knowledge. Each of the above categories affected urban resilience differently, where the first and the second had direct effects, while the other four influenced it indirectly, by affecting natural elements and biological species as urban assets and affecting ecosystem functions and processes through disorder or reinforcement of ecosystem services. The research results demonstrated that the ecological resilience of cities based on knowledge of urban resilience was affected by dynamic interactions between socio-economic and biophysical processes, where the formulated model and the criteria set as subcategories in the proposed model made it possible to enhance urban resilience. The formulated model serves as a general guide for urban planners, designers, and managers for achievement of ecological resilience in socio-ecological systems such as cities. Furthermore, it covers the gap identified as resulting from absence of an integrated framework in the ecological dimension of urban resilience is covered thanks to the integration of the factors affecting resilience.