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The Resilient City
Acknowledgements
These papers continue the international dialogue on human settlements that began with the first UN Human Settlements Conference in Vancouver in 1976. They provide an initial analysis of diverse aspects of the current urban situation and create a basis for an informed discussion and development of ideas and relevant issues leading up to WUF 2006.
The purpose of the Forum is to engage people worldwide in discussions about urban issues and to stimulate significant change across generations in the field of sustainable urban development. The United Nations has challenged Canada to develop a more interactive and participatory Forum. Consultation, dialogue and conclusions formed prior to and during the World Urban Forum will also contribute to Canada's urban agenda and will help to create a long-term legacy of knowledge and action around sustainability issues in Canada and the World.
The papers contributed to Canadian efforts in Barcelona at the 2004 WUF. Ministers and Canadian officials held informal consultations with domestic and international stakeholders while in Spain. The WUF 2006 Secretariat will take into consideration all input received from interested stakeholders to ensure that Canada meets the challenge from UN Habitat in making the WUF 2006 more interactive and participatory.
These papers have been developed with the financial support of Western Economic Diversification Canada. The views expressed herein are solely those of the authors of this paper and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Government of Canada or the Government of British Columbia.
This paper on The Resilient City derives from work commissioned by the Canadian ministers responsible for municipal governments. The original project was launched in January 2003 to gain a better understanding of the impacts of industry closure on small, single-industry communities and to obtain insights on the context, circumstances and actions influencing community transition in the aftermath of a closure event. The project was undertaken by staff of provincial and territorial ministries responsible for municipal government and culminated in a project report published in February 2005.
The authors wish to thank their colleague, Gary Paget, whose infallible memory of the development of Tumbler Ridge, from its inception to today, helped us reconstruct the story of that most interesting town. The authors would also like to extend their warmest thanks and appreciation to the participants in the original Community Resiliency, Transition and Recovery Project, the people who made this paper possible. In particular, the authors recognize ICURR (Intergovernmental Committee on Urban and Regional Research) for its capable assistance, especially the Executive Director of that organization, Catherine Marchand. They also recognize the many dedicated colleagues in Canada's provinces and territories that developed the case studies and helped steer the original project to a conclusion. All participants are listed in the full report, published by ICURR, but none bears responsibility for any of the defects in this derivative work.