Sustainable and resilient urban development strategies in post-war cities

The main challenge for the 21st century is to implement sustainable urban development strategies to deal with the so, economic, and environmental problems. In developed countries, the more cities invest in amenities and basic infrastructure the more they attract investment and private activities. However, in the post-war cities, the situation is more complex as rapid urbanization faces a lack of resources, insufficient infrastructure, and often brutal changes in social and political structures. This increased demand to provide infrastructure and create jobs without much of the economic and social resources requires keeping urban planning and management flexible and ready to adapt to new sustainable and resilient strategies. Urban resilience can prevent and "resist" some environmental and social matters, natural or man-made disasters, physical, social, and economic degradation phenomena in the proper way. Integrating both resilience and sustainability into urban planning requires tools that capture, quantify, and visualize how stakeholders' preferences, social relations and political influence interact to affect urban vulnerabilities. Moreover, if this concept was utilized properly in post-war cities –like the city of Aleppo in Syria which was greatly affected by the civil war in 2011- it can help the urban capability cope more effectively with the various past and possible crises. This requires the understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of cities, social capital, and governance capacity. Proposing sustainable and resilient urban development strategies for Aleppo might also provide lessons for other post-war cities facing similar problems.