Resilience, not resistance A contribution to an expanded urban conversation

Sophie Churchill

City, 2003, vol. 7, issue 3, 349-360

Abstract: Here, Sophie Churchill explores the contribution of a complementary psychodynamic language, offered by Leonie Sandercock, as a means to 'engage an alternative urban conversation’ -- through for example how we may dream our cities through stories and emotions. The need for this alternative conversation comes from the author's acknowledgement of the inadequacy of most current governance and planning arrangements in taking into account the wider needs of citizens. She also draws our attention to the limitations of resistance identities which foster conflict and confrontation. Using the example of the Birmingham in the UK (see also Frank Webster in Issue 5:1 of CITY) where the author has worked for a partnership organisation called 'City Pride’, the notion of 'resilience’ is developed as a key capacity to be built alongside more standard policy measures. Resilience here is the capacity to negotiate stress and trauma and recover from unforeseen disturbances. While Churchill stresses that resilience can equip cities 'to manage the white waters of 21st‐century change’, through more conciliatory approaches to governance, it is also worth thinking about what may be lost through a rejection of 'resistance’.

Date: 2003
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DOI: 10.1080/1360481032000157504

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