Resilience planning

We want to increase the resilience of our communities through the planning system.

Consideration of broad resilience includes acknowledging a variety of shocks and stresses, including natural hazard risk management, emergency management, climate change and adaptation, human health and social wellbeing, and environmental management.

Resilient Cities Network defines ‘resilience’ as:

the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses, and systems within a city to survive, adapt, and grow no matter what kinds of chronic stresses and acute shocks they experience.

The land-use planning system plays an important role in creating communities that are resilient to chronic stresses and episodic shocks.

Chronic stresses are slow-moving disasters or challenges that weaken the community on a day-to-day or cyclical basis.

Examples include:

• food and water shortages
• climate change
• lack of affordable housing
• pandemics.

Episodic shocks are sudden, short-term events that threaten a community.

Examples include:

• natural hazards such as heatwaves, bushfires, floods and extreme weather
• coastal hazards such as erosion and tsunamis
• disease outbreaks
• infrastructure failure.

Across NSW, communities may experience a range of shocks and stresses that can combine and result in cumulative risk. Effective planning can manage and reduce our exposure to this, and build resilience.

We are developing tools and guides to support resilience.

Our report, Resilience outcomes for the planning system (PDF, 2.7 MB), introduces 7 outcomes that are mapped to the United Nations sustainable development goals. These outcomes define how the NSW planning system will incorporate resilience.

The report will support and guide current and future resilience related work for the department.