Rebuild, Retreat, or Resilience: Can Taipei Plan for Resilience?

The number of climate-related disasters around the world has increased dramatically, often devastating cities. United Nations' estimation of losses from disasters around the world is between $250 billion to $300 billion each year. Making cities resilient to natural disasters has therefore become a priority for many policy makers. This book discusses urban resilience. It first builds on the current urban resilience discourse, debate, and practice through literature review and case studies. Second, this book analyzes flooding issues in five major global cities: New York City, London, Tokyo, Randstad, and Shanghai. Third, this book conducts a comparative study with seven countries, including Taiwan, Japan, China, U.S.A., U.K., France, and the Netherlands. Fourth, it undertakes a case study of Taipei to survey current practices and historic analysis as a tool to evaluate a chronology of policies implemented to make Taipei resilient to flooding. Finally, this book conducts flood simulation and scenario analysis as well as policy recommendations for Taipei. This book provides an example for other cities, particularly for cities in Asia.