REsilienceLAB

REsilienceLAB is constituted as a network of people working on sustainability issues, adaptation, urban and territorial resilience with different looks and approaches.

The network aims to support the promotion of actions and strategies of resilience.

 

The REsilienceLAB association

In 2015 the network was organized in the REsilienceLAB Association, which acts as a means to sustain more effectively the actions to promote and support resilience. More information at the following link (temporarily available only in Italian).

 

Reasons

Over the last few years, the concepts of RESILIENCE and RESILIENT CITY have become very popular on a political, academic and community level both in Europe and in the world. In the Italian context, these concepts have had a relatively low spread. In particular, public authorities have a poor knowledge of resilience strategies and policies related to climate change. This means that the objectives related to these aspects are often relegated to the bottom of the priority list of decision-making processes.

The need for dissemination of strategies of resilience is demonstrated by the fact that more and more often, on the occasion of disastrous weather events, the bottom-up movements promoted by the population and the needs expressed by citizens look for models of development and adaptation different from the traditional ones.

We (as REsilienceLAB) opened a discussion on the difficulty of introducing these topics in the cultural debate. Most of us are professionals, researchers and consultants in the fields of planning and environmental policies. Our meetings pointed out the need to promote a multidisciplinary network to disseminate issues related to resilience, sustainability and climate change.

 

Innovation and identity

A network for the promotion of strategies of resilience both at urban and territorial scale. Our network is innovative because it is:

  • OPEN and DYNAMIC: the network does not have a fixed structure bureaucratically organized and is supported by existing associations and networks;
  • COLLABORATIVE: REsilienceLAB is developing initiatives with cities, universities and other organizations in relation to specific activities;
  • FLEXIBLE IN THE DEFINITION OF THE RESILIENCE CONCEPT: the aim of the network is to keep open the debate on the meaning of resilience, sharing different positions and approaches;
  • OPERATIVE: the network is geared to the promotion of concrete initiatives and to the dissemination of themes and activities in the communities;
  • NO PROFIT: REsilienceLAB initiatives are geared towards the improvement of social conditions and also involve other non-profit organizations and NGOs;
  • EUROPEAN: the network relies on the expertise and experience of its members to connect to European networks and initiatives on the topic of resilience (such as RRMS - Resilience and Risks Mitigation Strategies of AESOP - Association of European Schools Of Planning, URBnet, ...).

 

People

For the moment REsilienceLAB involves 40 people with different backgrounds, professional positions and skills:

  • YOUNG RESEARCHERS AND PROFESSIONALS, working in the fields of sociology, geography, engineering, ecology, planning and architecture;
  • SENIOR RESEARCHERS AND PROFESSORS FROM DIFFERENT UNIVERSITIES, such as Università di Bologna, Politecnico di Milano, Politecnico di Torino, ...;
  • SENIOR PROFESSIONALS AND CONSULTANTS, working in the fileds of environmental planning, biodiversity, landscape and risk management.

 

Network

The ResilienceLAB network leans on the Italian Society of Landscape Ecology (Società Italiana di Ecologia del Paesaggio - SIEP) and collaborates with the Association of Environmental Analysts (Associazione Analisti Ambientali - AAA), thus with the CATAP network (Coordinamento delle Associazioni Tecnico- scientifiche per l’Ambiente e il Paesaggio - Coordination of Technical and Scientific Associations for the Environment and the Landscape). ResilienceLAB relates to international networks such as Urban Resilience Young Researchers Network (URBNet).

 

Activities

REsilienceLAB is actively involved in different activities such as:

  • comparison of experiences and proposals (with a theory-practice-theory approach) through the organization of seminars, workshops, ...;
  • promotion of resilience initiatives (community involvement, support to transition activities, citizen awarness towards models of sustainable and adaptive behaviour);
  • training for "technicians" (both in the public and in the private sector), public administrators, ...;
  • training for citizens, students, ...;
  • networking with other associations promoting resilience practices.