Using a systems approach to better understand urban resilience in Port Vila, Vanuatu

Building urban resilience relies upon understanding the individual parts of a city and how they connect and behave as one city. A systems approach is just that"”viewing the city, its history, its context and its relationships as individual parts or 'systems' that together make up a whole. A systems approach recognises that much like a human body, when one part of a city is affected, there are implications for the city as a whole ( Rossi, 1982 ). A systems approach can be a useful lens for building urban resilience because it has the ability to analyse complexity at different scales while taking account of the connections between systems and the processes responsible for the connections. When towns and cities are not managed well, the systems within them generate poverty, inequity and risk, giving way to fragile economies, inadequate access to basic needs and disregard for human rights across the urban-rural spectrum. Interrogating the ways in which individual systems work together to create an overall sense of liveability, well-being, and ability to overcome shocks and stresses can provide an insight into how to build urban resilience. The Asian Development Bank notes that managing rapid urbanisation in the Pacific has become one of the most pressing national and regional challenges in the new millennium ( Jones, 2016 ). The need for better management encompasses meeting infrastructure backlogs for water, sanitation and drainage; addressing issues of land tenure and access to basis services in relation to the growth of informal settlements; the need for greater social inclusion and genuine participation; and the reduction of gender-based violence, all of which are present within Pacific contexts, especially in Melanesia ( ADB, 2012 ). There is also a need to increase mitigation measures to address the impacts of climate change and disaster risk, as well as to support more-effective governance to undertake the management of rapid urbanisation through mechanisms such as urban planning. To these ends, this chapter argues that a systems approach can help to unpack urban complexity, particularly a city's ability to withstand shocks and stresses arising from seemingly intractable problems related to rapid and unmanaged urbanisation, poverty and climate change. A systems approach"”a method for identifying patterns of behaviour over time and the underlying factors that cause the behaviour"”enables analysis of separate parts of the city while also seeking an understanding of the city as a whole. A case study of Vanuatu's capital city, Port Vila, is used as an example of how a systems approach can assist with analysis of evolving parts or 'systems' of a city in a manageable and flexible way. By way of example, three different systems are selected for discussion in detail"”the built environment, social inclusion and protection, and economic"”to demonstrate application across diverse aspects of the city. The discussion seeks to identify specific factors related to formal government policies, mechanisms and processes that contribute to the vulnerability and capacity of each system discussed. The chapter concludes with a reflection on the potential for using a systems approach in research and practice.