Pitidis, Evangelos (2019) Putting urban resilience into action: a longitudinal study of resilience thinking implementation in Thessaloniki, Greece. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

Urban resilience has recently become one of the most popular drivers of contemporary urban development. However, embedding resilience thinking into specific policies is a complicated and challenging endeavour, which often leads to maladaptive outcomes and consequently to policy implementation gaps. Through a longitudinal analysis of efforts to implement urban resilience in Thessaloniki, Greece, this study seeks to highlight the capacity of resilience thinking to influence and transform urban governance and to identify actions that facilitate or impede this process. Utilising a case study design strategy and other qualitative and semi-quantitative research techniques, the study focused on Thessaloniki’s participation in an international resilience programme, investigating the transformations it induced in local urban governance, its relative focus on natural hazards and urban geological risk and the role and limitations of assessment methods employed throughout the process. Findings from empirical research have revealed that Thessaloniki’s resilience journey has propelled the reorganisation of the city’s traditional governance apparatus and mobilised local community capacity building. This has subsequently enabled the co-production of a shared vision for the city’s future, focussed on the need for enhanced resilience. However, Thessaloniki’s resilience journey has not been smooth. Initially there was a lack of prior familiarity with resilience principles which, alongside the inherent obduracy of traditional urban governance in Greece, and over-dependency on pre-defined, top-down assessment frameworks, generated challenges that the city has sought to address as it has attempted to mainstream and institutionalise resilience thinking into the everyday practices of city officials and local communities.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GB Physical geography H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Hazard mitigation -- Thessalonikē (Greece), Urban policy -- Thessalonikē (Greece), Sustainable urban development -- Government policy -- Thessalonikē (Greece), City planning -- Thessalonikē (Greece), Natural disasters -- Government policy -- Thessalonikē (Greece), Buildings -- Earthquake effects -- Thessalonikē (Greece), Floods -- Prevention -- Thessalonikē (Greece)
Official Date:	September 2019
Dates:	Date Event September 2019 UNSPECIFIED
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Computer Science
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Coaffee, Jon ; Albuquerque, João Porto de
Sponsors:	Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council ; University of Warwick. Centre for Doctoral Training in Urban Science ; British Geological Survey
Format of File:	pdf
Extent:	xiv, 283 leaves : illustrations
Language:	eng

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