Resilience has gained more attention in recent years. It is often used to describe the ability of people or communities to recover from a disaster that affects them. However, what does resilience mean in an urban setting and how can it be measured? This article will attempt to answer these questions while providing examples of interventions taken by Development and Humanitarian organizations to increase urban resilience in Freetown, Sierra Leone. 

Measuring Urban Resilience 

"Urban resilience is the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses, and systems within a city to survive, adapt, and grow no matter what kinds of chronic stresses and acute shocks they experience." 

It encompasses a holistic approach to building cities that can survive and flourish in the face of various challenges, including natural disasters, climate change, social and economic disruptions, and infrastructure failures. 

Developed by the Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities initiative, The City Resilience Index is a comprehensive tool designed to assess and measure the resilience of cities worldwide. It evaluates a city's ability to deal with shocks and stresses, such as natural disasters, social unrest, economic downturns, and climate change impacts. The index provides a systematic framework to understand the strengths and weaknesses of cities in their capacity to endure and overcome various challenges. By analyzing a range of factors, including infrastructure, governance, social cohesion, and environment, the City Resilience Index helps policymakers, urban planners, and community leaders to identify areas for improvement and implement strategies to build more resilient and sustainable cities. 

Challenges facing Freetown

According to the index, Freetown, Sierra Leone’s Capital, has a score of 0.49 out of 1, which is below the average of 0.56 for Sub-Saharan African cities. This means that Freetown faces significant challenges in building its resilience to various shocks and stresses, such as natural disasters, environmental degradation, poverty, and social unrest. Freetown residents experience recurring  disasters, such as fire due to overcrowding, poor planning and illegal electric connections. They are also experiencing recurrent  flooding due to illegal encroachment to the bay, poor drainage systems, and rising sea levels associated with climate change.  

The city's challenging topography of low-lying coastal slums contrasted against the mountainous surroundings increases Freetown residents' vulnerability to disasters. The World Bank identifies more key factors that negatively affect Freetown's resilience including:

• Rapid but fragmented urban growth, which has led to overcrowding, slum expansion, and insufficient infrastructure and services.

•  High exposure and vulnerability to floods, landslides, and coastal erosion, which are likely to worsen due to climate change and unplanned urbanization. 

• Weak local government finances and capabilities, which limit the city's ability to plan, manage and invest in resilience-building initiatives. 

To tackle these challenges and to support the increase of resilience in Freetown, Development and Humanitarian organizations in Sierra Leone empower the residents of the informal communities of Cockle Bay and Kolleh Town to reduce the impact of the reoccurring disasters on them.

Vulnerabilities of Informal Communities

Approximately 20,000 people live in Cockle Bay and Kolleh Town informal communities. Development and Humanitarian organizations and the Freetown City Council chose to target these two informal communities in Freetown, as the people living there had experienced recurring flooding, and are more vulnerable to climate change due to their precarious living conditions . Furthermore, informal communities have higher rates of malaria prevalence due to the multiple challenges they face, including inadequate housing, poor sanitation, and limited access to healthcare. Lastly, these communities live with a constant threat of eviction and have limited access to basic services. 

Urban Planning in Action

One particular program, aims to enable the residents of these two communities to participate in the planning of their settlements through empowering them to develop and implement ‘Area Action Plans’ (AAPs). These AAPs guide future development and inform the installation of critical infrastructure, and engage in collective actions to restore coastal ecosystems and maintain environmental cleanliness. The program supports the formalization of these communities, the resolution of land tenure issues, and the creation of a master plan for the planning of Freetown.  Formulation of AAPs includes participatory planning, community education to raise awareness of the importance of planning, capacity development of government agencies on urban planning, and participatory mapping exercises to demarcate safe land zones for dwellings and unsafe areas whose dwellers need to be relocated. The AAP will assess  land ownership issues and suggest solutions, as well as consider mitigation of climate change and man-made  hazards.  

The Area Action Plan tackles land use challenges by allocating space for specific land use purposes. These plans are created, endorsed by law, and validated. Once an AAP is established, the Ministry of Lands and Country Planning designates these communities as formal planning areas, transitioning them from informal to formal status. This change removes the risk of eviction, which had previously hindered planning efforts. Additionally, the AAP serves as a guide for future development and stakeholder partnerships. NGOs supporting community development can refer to the plan and contribute to its implementation while community members, community-based organizations (CBOs), and other donor partners can also use the plan to mobilize resources for its execution.

The process of creating an AAP had not been used in Sierra Leone since 1963. The AAP that has been developed during this program will contribute to the master plan for the planning of Freetown. To capture best practices and document the process of developing the plan, a Technical Working Group was established that includes the Ministry of Lands and Country Planning, Freetown City Council  and Development and Humanitarian organizations.

Through the program, Cockle Bay and Kolleh Town communities are also engaged in collective actions to sustainably maintain their living environments, restore coastal ecosystems and safeguard protected lands from encroachment. This includes the rehabilitation of mangrove plantations by those communities and a reduction in ‘banking’ activities that encroach on the sea.

Laying The Groundwork

To conclude, the Area Action Plan aims to increase the urban resilience of the informal communities of Cockle Bay and Kolleh Town in Freetown, Sierra Leone. It addresses some of the key factors that affect Freetown's resilience, such as rapid and fragmented urban growth, high exposure and vulnerability to natural hazards, and weak local government capacities. As such, urban planning is not just about creating spaces; it’s about shaping the future resilience of our societies. By prioritizing sustainable and adaptable infrastructure, we lay the groundwork for communities that can withstand environmental challenges and maintain a high quality of life. This holistic approach to urban development is essential for fostering healthy, thriving societies that are equipped to face the uncertainties of the future with confidence.

¹ ARUP and The Rockefeller Foundation. “City Resilience Framework.” The Rockefeller Foundation, November 2015. https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/100RC-City-Resilience-Framework.pdf. 

² World Bank. “Sierra Leone Multi-City Hazard Review and Risk Assessment,” February 19, 2019. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/disasterriskmanagement/brief/sierra-leone-multi-city-hazard-review-and-risk-assessment ; World Bank. “An Obstacle or Opportunity? Building Urban Resilience in Freetown,” June 7, 2019. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2019/06/07/an-obstacle-or-opportunity-building-urban-resilience-in-freetown.

³  Madison Cilk.“National Culture and Urban Resilience: A Case Study of Resilient Cities”. Consilience, no. 22 (July 20, 2020):18-30. https://doi.org/10.7916/consilience.vi22.6740 

⁴ Conteh, Abu, Annie Wilkinson, and Joseph Macarthy. “Exploring Gender, Health, and Intersectionality in Informal Settlements in Freetown.” Gender & Development 29, no. 1 (January 2, 2021): 111–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2021.1885215.