A workbook on planning for urban resilience in the face of disasters : adapting experiences from Vietnam's cities to other cities

This Workbook offers a step-by-step guide for city officials in proactively planning for natural disasters and climate change impacts. It is based on learning from three cities in Vietnam - Ha Noi, Can Tho, and Dong Hoi – that developed Local Resilience Action Plans (LRAPs) containing a set of prioritized actions, related to both infrastructure as well as policy/ regulatory and socioeconomic actions. These LRAPs are based on vulnerability and risks assessments, a gaps analysis drawing on an inventory of planned investments and policy changes, and multi-stakeholder priority setting. The on-the-ground learning from these pilot cities in Vietnam has paved the way for cities in China, Indonesia, and the Philippines to embark on similar processes. This Workbook is a complement to the best-selling Climate Resilient Cities: A Primer on Reducing Vulnerabilities to Disasters (2009).

This workbook is intended to help policy makers in developing countries plan for a safer future in urban areas in the face of natural disasters and the consequences of climate change. It is based on the experiences of three cities in Vietnam, Can Tho, Dong Hoi, and Hanoi, that worked with international and local experts under World Bank supervision to develop local resilience action plans (LRAPs) in 2009-10. An LRAP is a detailed planning document that reflects local concerns and priorities based on the experiences of the past and projections for the future. It is not a wish list of projects that may never be completed because they are too costly or lack political support. Rather, it should be a realistic document that describes and establishes priorities for specific steps that can be undertaken in the near term to adapt to both climate related and other hazards. Regardless of their size, location, political orientation, or technical capacity, other cities can learn from the experiences of these pilot cities to develop their own LRAPs. The purpose of this workbook is to adapt the initial experiences of Can Tho, Dong Hoi, and Hanoi to benefit the national government and other communities in Vietnam and beyond. Indeed, the process described in this workbook was later adopted in the cities of Iloilo, the Philippines; Ningbo, China; and Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and the concluding chapter of this workbook draws on some of the lessons learned in these cities. However, the workbook, while generalizable to other contexts, largely reflects the Vietnamese experience.

Foreword Acknowledgments Executive summary Reader's guide Introduction and context Demystifying the "local resilience action plan" Sensitization an important first step in establishing context Technical analysis risk identification and assessment based on spatial analysis Gaps assessment inventory and needs assessment Resilience measures identifying options and establishing priorities Bringing the pieces together and moving to implementation Concluding remarks References Annex 1: Characteristics of pilot cities Annex 2: Consolidated responses from the matrix done in Hanoi Annex 3: Structure of the steering committee/working group in Can Tho Annex 4: Can Tho maps Annex 5: GIS data compatibility and issues of technology Annex 6: Methodology for hazard mapping Input data Methodology Hydraulic modeling Annex 6: example of inventory from dong hoi Annex 7: example information template for an ongoing project Annex 8: Sample of proposed project for Dong Hoi city Annex 9: Priorities table from Hanoi. This Workbook offers a step-by-step guide for city officials to proactively plan for natural disasters and climate change impacts. It is based on learning from three cities in Vietnam that developed Local Resilience Action Plans (LRAPs) containing a set of prioritized actions related to infrastructure, policy, and socioeconomic actions.