On December 9, as an important part of the WYSS 2023, the 2023 International Symposium on Resilient Cities and the 23rd Annual General Meeting of UK-CARE (hereinafter referred to as the “symposium”) was held in Cangnan County, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province. Concurrent activities were also held at branch venues such as Shenyang University and Loughborough University in the UK.
Themed on “Urban-Rural Integration and Sustainable Development of Resources and Environment Make Cities More Resilient and Villages Richer”, the event brought together academicians, experts, technology elites, and entrepreneurs from all over the world. They exchanged views on the use of interdisciplinary methods to build a safe, green and livable city with digital resilience to assist in urban-rural integration and sustainable development of resources and environment.
The term “resilience” derives from a concept in engineering mechanics, originally referring to “the ability to return to the original state after being hit, like a basketball recovering its shape after being flattened and a spring bouncing back to the original state after being squeezed or stretched. Therefore, a “resilient city” should be able to withstand, remain flexible to and rapidly recover from natural and social pressures and achieve sustainable development.
“A resilient city can recover more rapidly after dealing with emergencies.” Jin Xiaoming, Director of the Science and Technology Diplomatic Expert Committee of China Association for Science and Technology and former Director-General of Department of International Science and Technology Cooperation, argued that a sound structure is necessary to ensure effective operation of cities where the majority of population of a country live. Resilient cities can better withstand the tests of various kinds, especially emergencies. Enhancing a city’s resilience can help it better respond to global changes.
“With accelerated urbanization, frequent occurrence of natural disasters and rising risks such as major safety accidents in recent years across the globe, cities are more likely to be hit by emergencies. In addition to dealing with disasters and emergencies, we should be more aware of the importance of building resilient cities”. Wang Meng, Executive Secretary General of the World Young Scientist Summit and Senior Geologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the symposium was held during the WYSS around topics such as geology and safe development and utilization of underground space based on the demand for building a resilient city in Cangnan County, Wenzhou City. Outstanding young scientists from all over the world gathered at this event to contribute their wisdom and strengthen to sustainable development and resilient city construction.
As is known, the concept of “resilient cities” was first proposed at the First United Nations World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR). China also explicitly proposed the goal of building resilient cities in the 14th Five-Year Plan. After that, it has established national standards for resilient cities and identified 71 third-level indicators for urban resilience assessment.
“Resilient cities are also sustainable cities.” Guo Huadong, academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Director-General and Research Fellow of the International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals (CBAS), believed that mining big data on the earth would play an important role in promoting the construction of resilient and safe cities and achieving urban-rural integration and sustainable development of resources and environment. China has taken practical moves in recent years to contribute to global sustainable development. They included building the world’s first big data platform system for sustainable development, and launching the world’s first space science satellite dedicated to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals and sharing it with the UN’s 193 member states.
How to engage more people in the building of resilient cities? For this issue, Orakanoke Phanraksa, Director of the Copyright Department of the National Innovation Agency of Thailand, held that efforts shall be made to promote interdisciplinary cooperation, share scientific research outcomes and build a stronger scientific community. Through collaboration on different projects, more people will be mobilized to participate in international cooperation in the building of resilient cities.
The unveiling ceremony of the Center for Applied Future Engineering and Sciences (CAFES) was also held at this symposium. The center is expected to offer science-driven solutions to accelerate sustainable development by working on future technologies such as artificial intelligence, new materials, new energy, and biotechnology. The unveiling ceremony of the China-UK Mangrove Wetland Ecological Research Center was also held during the event. It will support the restoration project for the mangrove wetland ecosystem along Puwan Bay in Cangnan County and work to promote cross-border and cross-regional industry-university-research cooperation in continuously enhancing its reputation as the largest bay mangrove ecological wetland in the northern edge of China.