By John Kraus, Director External Affairs, RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors)
Half of the world’s infrastructure that we expect to be in place in 2070 has not yet been built. But the world will have changed dramatically by then, so we need to understand now what the future infrastructure needs will be. How do we build infrastructure that is both resilient in itself and adds to a city’s overall resilience, by adapting to climate change and anticipating new shifts such as driverless transport, changing business models and demographic change?
A first step is to appoint a key figure at the heart of city administrations, who is a masterful connector, strategic adviser, broker and talented engager of communities. Almost 70 cities have begun to do just that. We are seeing the beginning of a new profession, the ‘Chief Resilience Officer’ (CRO). Often with a background in risk management, the CRO is tasked with changing the culture of an entire city, to think holistically, to plan for a future 30 or more years away, and to see city development from a community perspective.
Today we have fewer than 70 CROs, but we will need perhaps 10,000
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