Toronto ranked as world’s most resilient city

Torontonians must be honoured that their city was recently named the most resilient in the world, but then again, they already knew that.

After all, Canada’s largest city just struggled through one of the worst winters in its history and it has a controversial and now world-renowned mayor who just won’t quit.

But it’s the ability to rebound from disasters of the past (think the 1998 ice storm and 1954’s Hurricane Hazel) that helped the city earn its new title at the top of the list, as well as its forward-looking plans for the future when it comes to transportation and infrastructure.

It’s also in a good geographic position. Despite some harsh winters and hot summers, there’s little worry about earthquakes that can cause property damage, and hurricanes are extremely rare.

“Toronto has a great deal going for it,” said Richard Barkham, group research director at Grosvenor, a privately owned property group that conducted the resiliency report.

It studied 50 cities around the world and judged them based on their long-term real estate investment. Resilience was seen as the ability of a city to avoid or bounce back from an adverse event, and includes factors such as governance, institutions, planning system and funding structures. Cities were considered vulnerable based on their climate, environment, resources (such as food and water), infrastructure and community.

Canadian cities ranked in the top three in the study. After first-place Toronto was Vancouver, followed by Calgary in third.

Canada has a “great blend of economic dynamism and far-sighted urban planning,” said Barkham.

“For investors in property and real estate, it makes Canada a very sound long-term investment."

Vancouver was second, weighed down by its low-lying coastal location, which the report says makes it relatively vulnerable to sea level rise.

Vancouver’s so-called “Greenest City 2020 Action Plan,” helped it earn high marks for urban and environmental planning.

“Vancouver has excellent adaptive capacity scores, especially in governance and planning systems. Vancouver also scores well in terms of funding structures, with a favourable country credit rating and good access to financial services within the city,” the report notes.

The least resilient city on the list of 50 cities was Dhaka, while Jakarta and Cairo scored only slightly ahead.

The report says the bottom 20 cities are “considerably weaker” than the top 30, due largely to inequality, poor infrastructure and environmental degradation.

“Our view is that the lack of democracy that exists in some of these cities, though effective in some respects, is a long term hindrance,” the report states.

Take a look at the top 10 most resilient cities:

1. Toronto

2. Vancouver

3. Calgary

4. Chicago

5. Pittsburgh

6. Stockholm

7. Boston

8. Zurich

9. Washington DC

10. Atlanta