The Definition of Urban Resilience: A Transformation Path Towards Collaborative Urban Risk Governance

Resilience as a theoretical concept and policy proposition is constantly being redefined and clarified. But when it comes to implementation, public managers and bureaucrats have to take ownership of resilience and translate it into practical forms that make sense to them intellectually and operationally. In this chapter, we first explain how resilience is presented in the literature as, variously, a paradigm change, a governance model to better manage complex issues, and a destination to reach. Second, we analyse how public managers and bureaucrats responsible for implementation in London and Montreal have interpreted and used resilience. Finally, we discuss how paradigm change, governance transformation and goal attainment perspectives end up converging into a relatively similar meaning in both cities. What these cities are lacking to take the next step toward urban resilience is the strategic endorsement of political authorities to support this important transformation.