Top shock events identified in the Resilient Sydney Strategy 2018 have occurred in the past 5 years. Sydney has experienced significant floods, fires, heatwaves, droughts, infrastructure failures, cyberattacks and a global pandemic.

Many of the actions in the first strategy have been implemented. There is an increasing need to respond to how climate change is impacting Sydney’s economy, communities and environment.

Resilient Sydney 2025–2030 will be developed through comprehensive research and engagement with stakeholders and community members.

Research will include a resilience risk assessment to identify the shock and stresses most likely to impact our city. The assessment will analyse how megatrends are shaping Sydney.

Community engagement will include 6 workshops held across Greater Sydney, and workshops and interviews with stakeholders. It will also include forums with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, young people, people with disability and multicultural communities and business.

The development of the Resilient Sydney strategy 2025–2030 is funded under the joint Australian Government – NSW Government National Partnership Agreement on Disaster Risk Reduction.

City resilience is the capacity of people, communities, businesses and systems within a city to survive, adapt and thrive no matter what kinds of chronic stresses and acute shocks they experience.

Acute shocks are sudden events that threaten a city. Examples include heatwaves, floods, disease outbreaks and cyberattacks.

Chronic stresses weaken the fabric of a city on a day-to-day basis. Examples include rising inequity, housing unaffordability, family violence and inadequate public transport.

There are 3 drivers shaping human communities today and our future relies on resilient cities.

1. Urbanisation – An increasing proportion of the human population live in cities. By 2050, the global population is projected to be 9.7 billion and 70% of those people will live in urban centres.
2. Globalisation – We increasingly rely on global connections to supply our cities with the things we need. This makes us vulnerable when shocks and stresses affect other cities and supply chains.
3. Climate change – The impact of climate change on communities, economies and the environment is increasing. We need to be prepared, by planning for impacts to ensure our cities can adapt to a changing climate.

Cities are complex places where large numbers of people rely on the systems in a city to function well. Improving these systems and networks will increase our overall resilience.

Resilient cities can withstand and better recover from shocks and stresses. They emerge stronger after tough times and are better places to live in good times.

Research by Resilient Sydney in 2017 confirmed Greater Sydney was highly vulnerable to acute shock events and faces ongoing stresses.