on cyber resilience.
This Resilience Strategy adopted by the city has managed to cover different scales, starting from the smallest one that is buildings and people to the world-wide scale through connecting with and recognizing other cities with global resilience strategies. Therefore, the strategy managed to focus and reasonably integrate the following key aspects.
1.3.3. Concrete resilient initiatives and programs
The strategy has adopted different programs and initiatives that made it distinctive, creative and applicable as well. The following ideas present how the strategy has succeeded in being creative in dealing with city’s threats and how they formulated their weaknesses into opportunities (the following programs and initiatives are based on personal preferences):
i) WEsociety program
The role of Rotterdam’s WEsociety program is that there is a place for everyone, and everyone has the same opportunity to participate in the city’s action plans as well. The stakeholders tend to make Rotterdam a place where people actively want to meet one another and demonstrate their understanding and respect to each other. Mutual dialogue and connection enable and facilitates the discussion of any perceived issues.
The WEsociety program was initiated to make Rotterdam more resilient and resistant to potential harmful influences. It aims to strengthen connectedness in a sustainable way and create space for citizens to express issues and misgivings. Besides, Rotterdam is working also on expanding and strengthening the interconnectedness of the city among city dwellers, social organizations, population groups with different cultural backgrounds and with the municipal government as well. This will help the city to achieve the following different social qualities:
– integration: accept and understand each other’s value and take action to reduce tensions;
– participation: provide same opportunities to different population groups;
– capacity for adaptation: through the cultural diversity of Rotterdam’s population;
– resourcefulness and robustness: become strong and assertive to avoid the potentially negative consequences of world events;
– redundancy: get benefits of the communication channels among local population to support actions during crisis;
– flexibility: society can accommodate population groups that are facing difficulties.
For individuals, a resilient society means that everyone, regardless of their cultural, ethnic or religious backgrounds, is valued and respected and can participate – somehow – in the society (participation). Furthermore, differences and diversity will always be there, but mutual respect and understanding should always be observed (integration).
Table 1.4. WEsociety Program
(source: Rotterdam Resilience Strategy 2016)
| Scale | The whole city |
| Owner/partner | The Municipality of Rotterdam/welfare organizations |
| Status | On going |
| Result | Short-term/medium-term |
| Related actions | 6, 7, 8, 9 (see Appendix 2 of strategy) |
ii) The Rotterdam Energy Infrastructure Plan (REIP)
The transition to efficient and renewable energy will require – in addition to measures at the level of individual buildings – an energy infrastructure that can support this transition and proposals on how this transition can be implemented and overseen (a road map).
This would be an important step towards a 100% CO2-free built environment by 2050. To do so, the municipality has decided to start this process by using the Rotterdam Energy Infrastructure Plan (REIP). It seeks to respond to the strong and ambitious endeavors of the city such as solar energy and wind energy, by finding the means for the needed transition. As the existing infrastructure and facilities are based on outdated ideas in relation to the supply of energy and do not incorporate the concepts of emissions reduction and the finite extent of the earth’s (fossil) resources, it is a good idea to come up with state-of-the-art approaches.
The REIP represents such an intermediate stage (between the ambition and implementation stage) to provide a better understanding of the ultimate goal, the implementation strategy and the relevant parameters. The challenge that exists is to ensure that the city’s energy management systems remain flexible, integrated and yet robust, as the combination of energy storage and smart grids will play a key role.
The REIP will need to deliver the following intermediate results:
– energy mix: what is possible in terms of Rotterdam’s energy supply (and demand)? This includes plans relating to the heat node and developments in the port area;
– infrastructure plan: what do the Rotterdammers need to do and where? The city is seeking to understand the optimum combination of energy solutions at the local level and the urban energy infrastructure that would be needed for this. This subproject focuses on the built environment of the city of Rotterdam;
– road map: how does Rotterdam get there? The road map provides an insight into who needs to do what and which requirements need to be met in order to make progress towards the energy transition.
The REIP approach involves a closer examination of which best combination of top–down and
