District-based Baseline Resilience Indicators for Communities (DBRIC) for assessment of a Global South city

Abstract

Assessing resilience at the community level is essential for evidence-based planning and policymaking. However, issues such as data availability and accessibility make community resilience assessment a challenging task. Development and implementation of resilience assessment models are particularly challenging in Global South cities that lack access to skilled personnel and updated databases. Using the Baseline Resilience Indicators for Communities (BRIC) model, developed for county-level resilience assessment in the United States, this article aims to create an urban district-level resilience index called District-based Baseline Resilience Indicators for Communities (DBRIC). We utilized DBRIC to measure the resilience of Tehran districts and examine how it has changed from 2006 to 2016. The selection of these years was primarily influenced by the data availability. The results show that 45.5% of the districts of Tehran experienced a decrease in the DBRIC index by up to -300%. The decline was particularly noteworthy in terms of social and community capital. Further, the results highlight relatively less resilient districts that require specific attention from planners and policy makers. The findings of the study can inform local planners and policymakers in their efforts towards enhancing resilience. They can also be of interest to policymakers in other Global South cities with similar conditions.