Fostering resilient cities: from centralized to distributed networks hydropower systems

1. Efficiency, resilience and sustainability for the cities: trajectories and paradoxes The Ecological Society of America launched in 2009 the program “Planetary Stewardship for Global Sustainability” (Power and Chapin 2009). Supported from a consistent and recent literature (Rockstrom et al 2010; Reid et al 2010, and others) this program emphasized the growing concern upon the identification and evaluation of planetary safety boundaries, inside which humanity should stay in order to avoid dangerous (but possible) global shocks or regime shifts (Rockstrom et al 2009). Cities play a key role on that (Andersson, 2006) as the human dominated systems are considered the main responsible of such global diffuse impacts on nature (Folke and Grunderson, 2010). Furthermore, as Miller points out, globalized economy lifestyle is increasingly disconnecting people from nature, and the resources that supports them (Miller 2005). Such artificiality of life and cities are well expressed within the so called 'resort city' (Koolhaas, 2006), such as Dubai or Singapore, where the demand for leisure dictates the form, consumption and essence of the city, without any connections to the sustainability dimensions. Increasing evidences are than calling for such new frameworks, in acting now and with urgency, changing urban models and philosophy. Although the global urban population surpassing the rural one (UN, 2008) cities occupy just the 2%t of the world’s terrestrial surface, but consuming over 75% of its natural resources (UN-Habitat, 2006). This could seem a paradox if we notice that the most energy (than resources) consumers societies (and cities) are in the developed contries, in other words the onces who boast an evolution following efficiency paths. Nothing new if we consider what since XX century Jevons and others began to explain within the theories on efficiency and technological improvements (Jevons, 1905) that efficiency is the main cause of increasing production and consumption (Hotelling, 1931; Brookes,1979; Lovins, 1988; Saunders ,1992; Schipper and Grubb, 2000; Binswanger, 2001 and Alcott, 2004). At this point sustainability is not a consequent path of the technological and efficiency development, although a matter of controlling growth and production (Schneider and all 2010). The fact our societal structure are based and organize around a dynamic of production and consumption (Castells, 2000) the transitions to different models pass throughout the call for more resilient, less efficiency oriented cities and societies1. In fact resilience framework represents here the alternative path of the efficiency one, in developing and looking at a more adaptive, flexible and long term sustainable trajectory.