Design for Resilience in the Everyday Space

Abstract

Today, the resilience of communities is increasingly highlighted in cases of returning hazards affecting everyday life next to those in cases of exceptionally devastating natural and man-made global disasters. Urban analyses on community resilience and translations of theory in actionable strategies are consequently informing everyday public spaces inside and outside buildings. We, designers of public spaces are thus challenged to design for resilience. Designing for resilience counterbalances designing for control, making vital and vulnerable places rigidly robust. Outcomes contrast designs like the enormous Venetian flood protection system MOSE, built on age-old ways to keep water out and secure cities alike the tiny temporary flood barriers for doors. As a relatively new moral value, designing for resilience is not innate to our professions and lacks such tradition. Luckily, examples emerge.