Making a step forward towards urban resilience. the contribution of digital innovation

Abstract

Starting from ‘wicked problem’ theory as the landmark for framing disaster events in terms of policy issue for city governments, this paper highlights the contribution provided by Big Data analytics and digital innovation in dealing with disaster risks. The research aims at answering the following question: what is the role that ‘smart technologies’ play in strengthening urban resilience to disaster risks? To answer the question, the study devotes attention to some applications of data analytics for enhancing cities resilience towards disaster risk reduction. Exploiting the transformative power of digital innovation for the enhancement of city ‘smartness’ could be a valuable path for boosting urban resilience facing ‘wicked problems. However, it is debatable whether cities can effectively overcome these problems without a clear understanding of the need to merge smartness and resilience in a broad policy framework and to apply these principles into consistent operational disaster risk reduction plans.