Resilience
Planning and designing resilient societies together
Strategic urban resilience planning
Sweco’s cross‑border knowledge initiative, Urban Insight, takes a deep dive into what it means to build resilient societies. Through expert‑written reports, trend analyses and articles, Sweco shares the latest solutions and best practices for resilient development.
Throughout the year, activities are organised to inspire dialogue and open up discussions on the actions needed to keep people safe and thriving. Together with leading experts, we present data, facts and professional insights on how resilience can become a natural and integrated part of the built environment.
Take part in trend analyses, reports and insights.
Regenerative Neighbourhoods
Biodiversity is declining at an alarming rate. By increasing urban green-blue areas and applying regenerative principles, cities can unlock benefits like increased carbon capture, better air quality, cooler temperatures and enhanced public health.
42%—that’s the potential for increasing urban green-blue cover, according to a Sweco study of 22 cities in Europe.
Heatwave resilience
Europe is warming at twice the global rate. A new Sweco study highlights this critical issue, revealing that European cities are struggling to keep pace with adaptation measures for the escalating heatwaves.
The urban heat island effect and lack of detailed data and vulnerability mapping across European cities are key issues identified in a new Sweco study. The findings are published in an Urban Insight report “Building heatwave resilience in European cities” with recommendations for policymakers and urban sustainability practitioners.
Resilient industry
In the new report from Sweco’s Urban Insight, ‘The race towards a green and resilient industrial sector’, experts take a deep dive into the leading sectors in the green transition, highlighting drivers, investments, and the latest technologies, as well as the potential new risks.
The industrial sector, responsible for 25-30% of global CO2 emissions, is at the heart of the green transition. Billions of euros have been invested in the green transition, regulations and capital are falling into place – but is it enough?
Resilient infrastructure
The EU has one of the densest transport infrastructure networks in the world, but age and increasing pressure due to rising traffic is taking its toll. Moreover, the impact of climate change is exacerbating the situation.
Europe is experiencing an increase in extreme rain events. These events can cause significant damages, both direct and indirect, as evidenced by rainfall-induced floods in 2021 that resulted in damages exceeding EUR 38 billion in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.
How to plan, design, and build more resilient infrastructure?
Resourceful societies
The health crisis, and the ongoing conflicts have revealed the vulnerabilities of our society, highly dependent on the flow of supplies on a global scale. However, crises also represent opportunities to learn and to prepare for the future.
By exploring needed measures to develop “Resourceful Societies” Sweco experts highlight several actions needed to increase the communities’ capacities to assess, adapt and act; on methods to support alternative supply chains and collective management of resources; and on strategies to optimize resources and develop sustainable and resilient food, water, and energy systems.
The search for resilience in a world of polycrisis
The so called polycrises affect various sectors of society simultaneously with unintended threats to emerge. In this report “The search for resilience in a world of polycrisis”, Sweco is addressing resilience, global risks and the required actions to plan and design resilient communities.
“The risks are far from independent of each other. We will likely increasingly be exposed to situations where risks interact and lead to events we did not expect,” says Thomas Elmqvist, professor in Natural Resource Management at Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University
To succeed with resilience, we need to understand what we want to protect and keep safe.
Why is resilience important?
- By 2030, without significant investment in making cities more resilient, natural disasters may cost cities worldwide 314 billion dollars each year, up from around 250 billion dollars today.
- Every year, an estimated 26 million people are pushed into poverty by natural disasters.
- Biodiversity loss and ecosystem collapse are viewed as the fastest deteriorating global risks over the next decade.
- The energy supply crisis, the cost-of-living crisis, rising inflation, the food supply crisis and cyber attacks on critical infrastructure are among the top risks for 2023 with the greatest potential impact on global scale, according to World Economic Forum Global Risks Perception Survey 2022-2023.
Resilient societies
Resilience refers to the ability of systems to respond, adapt, mitigate or even benefit from shocks and changing conditions. In constant changing society, resilience is about reducing vulnerabilities by reinforcing capacities associated to short-term adaptation and long-term transition.
This year Urban Insight dive into various strategies towards resilience, focusing on different actions to minimize the impact of crisis; to bounce forward to respond to multidimensional challenges; and to promote systemic change by supporting innovative urban governance. How do we build a resilient society? How do we anticipate and prepare for changes and crises? How to bounce forward for long term societal and environmental responses?
What experts at Sweco think about resilience
“Finding a balance between resilience and sustainability is important to create a safe environment”
Erle Kristvik is a civil engineer specialising in water and environmental engineering at Sweco in Norway and she is focusing on how to manage stormwater in a resilient and sustainable way.
“The challenge is related to how we perceive risk. There are many examples of high-risk perception leading to very technically robust measures, such as large-scale, grey infrastructure for stormwater detention and conveyance that are not necessarily the most sustainable ones”.
“Mobilising a diverse network of experts is key to the global transition”
Diego Luna Quintanilla is an architect and urban planner at Sweco in Belgium. Most of his projects are in Brussels where he also lives, and range from urban design to strategic planning and regional visions.
Resilience becomes apparent in cities where people, economies and technologies are linked in a network.
“A new toolkit provides key steps towards urban resilience”
“Digital tools and methods could tell us more about a neighbourhood’s local resources and help map and visualise sources, reduce carbon emissions and increase climate resilience”, says Elise Grosse Chief Sustainability Sweco Architects, working at the forefront of development for the sustainable built environment at the Architects division for Sweco in Sweden.
Sweco uses a combination of different digital tools in the form of a toolkit to support cities who wish to build more resourceful neighbourhoods and specifically with the aim of boosting resilience by visualising and quantifying all relevant information from carbon emissions to social-value creation.
Sustainable infrastructure development
At Sweco, sustainable infrastructure development is about creating systems that are robust, adaptable and resource‑efficient throughout their entire life cycle. We integrate resilience, climate mitigation and social value into the planning, design, delivery and management of infrastructure — from transport and energy to water, digital and industrial systems.
Our approach combines data‑driven analysis, nature‑based solutions and systems thinking to reduce emissions, minimise environmental impact and strengthen society’s ability to withstand shocks. By designing infrastructure that is flexible, multi‑functional and future‑ready, we help cities and regions adapt to climate change, population growth and shifting demands.
Through cross‑disciplinary collaboration and local insight, Sweco supports decision‑makers in prioritising long‑term value over short‑term gains. Sustainable infrastructure is not only about building assets — it is about enabling resilient communities, protecting ecosystems and supporting a fair and prosperous transition to a low‑carbon society.
Building Back Better
Urban Insight by Sweco Podcast Series
A city the size of Paris must be built every week for the next 30 years to accommodate global population growth. How do we rebuild our cities and towns in the face of climate change?
Read more
