Digital Resilience in Smart Cities: A Dynamic Capability Approach

Abstract

Cities worldwide are not immune from a vast array of threats from natural hazards to man-made and health-related disasters. Smart cities have become more vulnerable to new forms of risks due to digital vulnerabilities. In order to make smart cities more secure, smart cities need to embed digital resilience as one of the cornerstones of overall urban resilience. This chapter will explore concepts such as resilience, smart cities' architecture, and threats facing smart cities. Using the dynamic capabilities approach, this chapter will explore how smart cities can be more digitally resilient by building specific dynamic capabilities. Three dynamic capabilities were found to make cities digitally resilient, namely, anticipating, withstanding, and adjusting. Strategies to help smart cities build these dynamic capabilities will be explored with relevant actions to be undertaken.