2018 Reports

Digital Resilience: Innovative Climate Change Responses in Rio de Janeiro

Luque-Ayala, Andrés; Marvin, Simon

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has developed innovative digital and institutional approaches to enhance urban resilience in response to climate change. Following the catastrophic floods and landslides of April 2010, the city established the Center of Operations (COR), a state-of-the-art urban control room integrating real-time data from more than 800 cameras, municipal departments, and private utilities. The COR enables horizontal coordination across 32 municipal agencies and multiple stakeholders, facilitating predictive monitoring, emergency response, and infrastructure management. Beyond climate adaptation, the COR embodies a broader resilience strategy that addresses social, economic, and infrastructural challenges, positioning Rio as a global exemplar of digitally-enabled urban resilience and smart city governance.