• Pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation, London will receive funding to hire a Chief Resilience Officer, alongside logistical support, as a member of the ‘100 Resilient Cities Network’
• Programme fosters closer global co-operation between member cities on resilience issues • London’s winning bid will focus on developing plans to improve London’s resilience to cyber-attack and emerging digital threats, among other resilience issues
London has beaten off stiff global competition to win a prestigious place in a network of resilient cities that will bolster the capital’s efforts to improve cyber, and other types of resilience.
The winners of the 100 Resilient Cities challenge was announced in Singapore by the Rockefeller Foundation today (3 December).
The announcement means the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) will receive a share of a $100m fund from the Rockefeller Foundation, with particular focus on building London’s resilience plans to tackle cyber-crime and emerging digital threats that if realised, could disrupt the running of the city.
This will include access to a package of support and resilience building-expertise from private and non-profit sectors, worth in excess of millions of pounds.
The support will include the appointment of a senior City Hall officer to lead on the delivery of this programme working alongside existing resilience planning and with relevant city and central government agencies, including the Metropolitan Police and the Cabinet Office.
London was selected as one of 35 new cities from around the world that will join a now 60+ strong network of cities working with the Rockefeller Foundation to share best practice and expertise.
This year’s in-take were selected from 330 competing bids. Other successful cities in this round include Athens, Chicago, Paris, Milan, Sydney, Chennai and Singapore.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “London is the world’s commerce and technology hub and winning membership of this global network will enable us to bolster the city’s plans to stay one step ahead of today’s threats, including from cyber-crime. We already have tried and tested emergency response plans for London’s physical infrastructure, but we can and must do more on prevention, and this Rockefeller developed initiative will deliver significant financial support and access to world-leading expertise. One key challenge we face is cyber criminality and so along with other resilience issues, London will develop a comprehensive prevention strategy that involves all of our partners, and enables businesses and Londoners to play their part too.”
Notes to editors
• ‘100 Resilient Cities’ (100RC) - pioneered by The Rockefeller Foundation - is a $100+ million effort to build urban resilience around the world. Launched during the Foundation’s Centennial in 2013, 100 Resilient Cities aims to help cities build resilience to the threats that are increasingly part of the 21st century.
• The Mayor’s Office for Policing And Crime (MOPAC) submitted a bid on behalf of the Mayor’s Office to the Rockefeller Foundation’s 2014 round of the 100RC challenge in October. London was selected from more than 330 applicants that applied to the 2014 Challenge, and will be part of the second cohort of network cities – the first 32 were announced in December 2013.
• Over the course of two years, more than 700 applications have been submitted to the 100 Resilient Cities Challenge. London joins a diverse group of cities such as Mexico City; Byblos, Lebanon; New York City; Dakar, Senegal; Surat, India; and Bangkok, Thailand. • Further details on the Challenge are available at www.100resilientcities.org
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