Urban Resilience: Short-term Recovery and Long-term Adaptation After the 2011 Floods in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu (Canada)

Recent studies address resilience - specifically urban resilience - from the point of view of the factors that contribute to the development of adaptation mechanisms. They often stress the physical, economic, institutional and socio-cultural dimensions of resilience. However, these factors are often considered independent of one another and the relations between them and the projects’ time phases and scales of intervention are largely underestimated. This research project proposes a framework that examines the variables constituting disaster resilience and the relationships between these variables. The framework is illustrated (and tested) with empirical results from the study of adaptation mechanisms and reactions developed after the 2011 floods that took place in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu in Canada. The research is supported by a detailed literature review on the subject, reports by local media and interviews with residents and local officials responsible for decision-making. The study finds that the actions carried out responded specifically to the emergency situation and benefited from a strong participation of the local government, provincial and local organisations. These actions ultimately mitigated imminent needs, but did not create sustainable resilience mechanisms to reduce the risks of future floods. There is an imbalance between efforts in emergency response and actions aimed at long-term risk reduction. It is concluded that an integration of the different factors of urban resilience, time scales and levels of intervention is required to produce more sustainable relationships between civil society, the city and the natural environment.