2003年美国纽约大停电，城市交通系统瘫痪、自来水系统故障，对居民生活造成极大影响；2011年东日本大地震，重大人员伤亡和财产损失，造成福岛第一核电站发生核泄漏。2012年飓风桑迪，使得美国、古巴、牙买加等地大量财产损失和人员伤亡。一系列的突发事件以及灾难的发生，使得人们对于城市有了新的思考：城市为何这般脆弱？对于突发事件，我们该如何进行应急处理与风险防控？如何增加城市韧性，已成为刻不容缓的课题。

Josh Sawislak 先生是AECOM全球韧性城市总监。在此岗位上，他统筹AECOM公司在规划、设计、建设、融资、运营和发展等方面的综合资源，帮助公司客户在项目中运用韧性发展策略，以应对注入可持续发展、气候变化、灾害防备和企业风险管理方面的问题。他在全球各地为多个国家的政府、市政当局、非政府组织和国际组织提供理念指导和策略建议。最近，Josh Sawislak先生在首届中美气候领导人峰会上担任发言人，也参加了2015年在巴黎举行的全球气候谈判。

Josh Sawislak 先生参与过的项目包括，为美国总统和白宫人员进行咨询、建议；作为飓风桑迪灾后重建工作队的白宫高级官员和内阁官员的高级顾问，与国会议员、州长、市长、高级联邦、州、地方和部落的官员，在纽约、新泽西和其它受飓风桑迪影响的国家开展五百亿美元的复苏计划。

2015年11月16日，Josh Sawislak 先生于同济大学城规学院进行了以《韧性城市的实践与思考——美国应对气候变化的方法以及从飓风灾后重建工作中所吸取的经验教训》为题目的演讲，并与校方领导、教授以及学生们共同就韧性城市进行了深入的探讨。活动结束后，Archina建筑中国有幸对Josh Sawislak 先生进行了专访。

让我们一起走进AECOM全球韧性城市总监Josh Sawislak先生，了解他在韧性城市发展中的探索历程。

 

ARCHINA：对于韧性的概念，人们可能只停留在对抗灾难以及灾难减缓方面。您在演讲中提到经济，还有哪些元素是韧性城市在社会、科技以及居民生活中的表现呢？

Josh Sawislak：韧性是一个非常广泛的定义，它最早来源于科学。在物理学中，韧性指的是材料在被按压或伸展后能够恢复到原有状态的性质。但在社区中，我们把韧性定义为一种能在破坏中快速恢复的能力。这种破坏可以是物理学上的，比如飓风、地震以及洪水等自然灾害类的急性事件；也可以是一种持续的破坏，如温度升高、海平面上涨以及干旱等。这些是韧性于社会以及经济方面的意义。

但在AECOM，我们的焦点在于建造一个环境即基础设施使我们的设施和资产能够支持我们的社区运行。但是，很明显获得有效的医疗保障、人身安全及谋生机会等对于社区自强是非常关键的。在朱迪斯·罗丹博士的《韧性的回报》一书中，洛克菲勒基金会主席和100个韧性城市项目的建筑师,共同探讨了影响韧性城市的各层面问题。

ARCHINA：您一直致力于飓风桑迪的灾后重建工作，这个过程中最关键的步骤是什么？如何将韧性城市概念映射到重建工作中？

Josh Sawislak：在这项工作中最难的部分就是和在灾难中失去了一切，包括家人及爱人的居民们一起工作。但是人们在听到韧性的时候是振奋的，看起来似乎大家都明白需要作出怎样的改变，但决策者总是忘记一点，即我们必须重新看向未来，而不是过去。我常常听到灾难幸存者说的是“我们不能阻止已经发生在他们身上的灾难，但我们可以防止其未来再降临到别人身上”。

为了做到这点，我们必须明白威胁的易变性质，这会被气候变化及其他可以使未来不同于过去的事情所影响，我们应该重建更强大、更韧性的城市去面对威胁。为了做到这些，我们必须清楚了解并且评估这些威胁，但我们常常等到灾难过后才开始思考我们建设环境的适应性。

ARCHINA：韧性是个全球化的问题，基于国情不同，怎样在不同的政策及气候条件下实现韧性城市的发展策略？您在演讲中提及到日本在这方面的应用，请问还有其他案例吗？

Josh Sawislak：对于韧性来说，有两个最关键的挑战：第一，韧性是一个相对的词语；第二，它具有地点以及问题的特殊性。每个家庭、城镇甚至每个国家的政策都是不同的。比如，新加坡、美国新奥尔良的人们都已经学到了很多关于水资源管理的知识，但他们面对的问题却是不同的。这也是像重庆这样的城市所面对的，我最近与AECOM的同事一同到重庆，并在重庆大学做了演讲。在重庆，海平面上升已经不是重点关注的问题了，但是河流的活力和建设标准能够适应地震活跃区域是具有决定性的。就像上海和深圳面临的问题与北京是不同的，尽管它们都是一线城市、拥挤的城市。再如日本，智利都已经了解地震及海啸的危害，但是像以色列、新加坡、洛杉矶这些城市，他们知道水才是它们面临的挑战。

ARCHINA：在您看来，哪个城市已经实现了韧性城市发展策略，韧性城市的基本要素是什么？

Josh Sawislak：现在很多城市已经在变得更加韧性的道路上跨出了一大步，请注意韧性是一个相对的概念，所以我们只能变得“更加”韧性。纽约在飓风桑迪来临前和来之后做出的方案就是个很好的案例。像新加坡、洛杉矶、阿姆斯特丹、神户、黑潭、哥本哈根、悉尼、芝加哥、圣地亚哥、克赖斯特彻奇、摩尔小镇及俄克拉何马州小镇都意识到了正在面对的龙卷风的威胁。

在AECOM，我们和全球许多城市在灾难重建方面合作，这些已经在我们季度更新的杂志上呈现出来了，这些城市在这方面都是非常有前途的，并且值得作为一个好的案例去学习。但我们必须记住，没有一条策略是适用于所有城市或所有问题的。成为韧性城市最重要的一点是明白你将面对的威胁，并且在一个有组织、且有效的方式下，应用风险管理策略使其缓和、转换或接受这个危害。任何一个城市都可以做到，但这需要政治意愿、科学以及工程来支撑他完成。

 

ARCHINA：您对未来韧性城市的发展有何见解？人们的生活将会有哪些改变？

Josh Sawislak：希腊哲学家赫拉克利特告诉我们生命中唯一不变的就是改变。这个世界是动态的，我们必须意识到我们不能精准地预测未来，但我们擅长从气候以及人口从农村流动到城市这些变化中了解将面临的挑战。作为一个规划者，我趋向于思考未来我们将面对什么并且怎样对可能发生的事情做出准备。伴随着设计、建造、提高我们的城市建设以及基础设施建设，我们必须思考建设投资的整个生命周期并且像为现代城市建造一样对未来城市进行建造。

在城市趋于韧性的变化中，有一些改变将在我们的生活中出现，其中一些会影响到下一代或再下一代。但是如果我们期望我们的子孙后代能够繁荣，我们现在必须开始像解决二氧化碳排放以及气候变化带来的影响一样解决这些问题。

【英文原文】
 

ARCHINA：To the understanding of the resilience,people maybe only stay in anti-disaster and disaster alleviation. You mentioned about economy in the speech,and what else elements of resilience do you think in society, technology and residents’ daily life?

 Mr.Sawislak:

Resilience is a very broad term. Its origin is in science. In physics, resilience is the property of a material to return to its normal state after being compressed or stretched. So in communities, we define resilience as the ability to absorb or quickly recover from disruption. That disruption may be physical, as in a cyclone, earthquake, or flood. It can be an acute incident like one of these natural disasters, but it can also be a more constant stressor such as increases in temperature, sea level rise, or drought. There are social and economic aspects to resilience, but at AECOM our main focus is on the built environment so we look at the facilities and assets that support our communities – the infrastructure. But clearly issues such as access to effective healthcare, personal safety, and economic opportunity are critical to community resilience. In her book on the subject, The Resilience Dividend, Dr. Judith Rodin, the President of the Rockefeller Foundation and the architect of the 100 Resilient Cities program, discusses the full palate of issues affecting resilient communities. 

ARCHINA：We know you work on hurricane Sandy post-disaster reconstruction all the time. What’s the key of the reconstruction work? And how to reflect the idea of resilient city to the reconstruction?

Mr.Sawislak:

One of the hardest parts of this job is to work with people who have lost everything in a disaster, including all too often family members and other loved ones. But to see the resilience of these people is inspiring. What all of them seem to understand, but often policy makers forget is that we must rebuild looking to the future, not the past. What I often hear from survivors of disasters is that we can’t prevent what happened to them, but we can prevent it happening to others in the future. To do that, we must understand the changing nature of the threat, both that affected by climate change and other issues that make the future different from the past. We should always rebuild stronger and more resilient to the threats we will face, but in order to do that we must understand and evaluate those threats. Too often we wait until after a disaster to realize that we must think about the resilience of our built environment.

ARCHINA：Resilience is a global issue.On account of the different national conditions ,how to achieve the development strategy of resilient city under the diverse policy and climatic conditions?      You mentioned Japan in the speech,do you have any other examples?

Mr.Sawislak:

Two of the main challenges to resilience are that it is a relative term and that it is place and issue specific. The policies of one family, town, or even country may need to be different than others. The people of Singapore and in the U.S., New Orleans, have learned a lot about water management, but the issues they face are different that those faces by a city like Chongqing, which I recently visited and toured with my AECOM colleagues as well as lecturing at Chongqing University. In Chongqing, sea level rise is not a big concern, but the viability of the river and building standards appropriate for a seismically active area are critical. Just as Shanghai and Shenzhen face different challenges than Beijing, even though all are large, congested cities. Like Japan, Chile has recognized their risk from earthquakes and tsunamis, but in places like the Israel, Singapore, and Los Angeles, they know water is their challenge. 

ARCHINA：Which city has achieved the development strategy of resilient city in your opinion? What’s the basic terms of the resilient city?

Mr.Sawislak:

There are many cities that have made great strides in becoming more resilient. Note that one can only become “more” resilient as it is a relative term. New York City is a good example with the planning they have done before and after Hurricane Sandy, as are Singapore, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Kobe, Blackpool, Copenhagen, Sydney, Chicago, Santiago, Christchurch, and the little town of Moore, Oklahoma wher they implemented one of the strongest building codes in the United States to recognize the threat they face from tornadoes. At AECOM, we have been working with cities across the globe on these issues and as we have recently presented in our new magazine, Innovation Quarterly, the stories of these cities is very promising and serve as great examples for learning, but we must remember that no one strategy works for all cities or all issues. The key to being a resilient city is to understand the threats you face and to use a risk management strategy to mitigate, transfer, or accept those risks in an organized and effective manner. Any city can do this, but it takes political will and science and engineering support to accomplish it. 

ARCHINA：What’s your opinion about the tendency of the future development about resilient city, and how many changes will come up in people’s life?

Mr.Sawislak:

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus tells us that the only constant in life is change. The world is dynamic and we must realize that while we cannot predict the future with absolute certainty, we are getting pretty good at understanding the challenges we face from our changing climate and the movement of people from rural areas to cities. As a planner, I tend to think about what we will face in the future and how we can be prepared for that eventuality. As we design, build, and improve our cities and our infrastructure, we must think about the whole lifecycle of these investments and build for the future as much as we build for today. Some changes will happen in our lifetime and some will affect the next generation or the one after that. But if we want those generations to prosper, we must start dealing with issues like carbon emissions and the coming impacts of climate change now.