Building resilience through landscape
- Vol.86(4), April
- Mumbai Indian Institute of Architects 2021
- 102-107p.
Living through the COVID-19 pandemic with the spec- tre of uncertainty still looming large, we have learnt to deal with the challenges that have suddenly changed the way we live, work and interact as a community. We have now learnt to live within our means and resources and adapt to sudden and unexpected changes that have altered almost every aspect of life. As architects the pandemic has brought in new challenges in design and perception of our built environment. We now look forward to bouncing back with resilience to a post-pan- demic world learning valuable lessons from our current expe- riences. This is also an appropriate time to introspect on how we can build resilience into our lives and living environments. Resilience can be defined as the inherent ability of a system or community to withstand sudden or unexpected disturbances or disruptions while retaining its function and structure. Resilience is not just the ability to bounce back from natural disasters or calamities. Rather it can be described as a sense of preparedness to accept and understand the vaga- ries of nature and adapt positively. As architects, landscape architects and planners, there is a definitive need to build re- silience into our projects, cities and communities.