Effective criteria on the assessment of urban resilience against climate change with the hierarchical analysis method

Climate change, as one of the great challenges of the present era, has profound effects on the structure and performance of cities, and emphasizes the need to increase urban resilience. Urban resilience, as the ability of a city to resist, improve, and recover from environmental and social crises, is considered an essential requirement for sustainable development in the face of climate change. This research identifies and analyzes effective criteria in urban resilience using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method and seeks to determine key priorities for improving resilience against the negative effects of climate change. In this research, key resilience criteria including: water resources, urban structure, laws and regulations, education and public awareness, climatic conditions, green space, and economic status were identified. To collect data, questionnaires were designed and distributed among experts in the field of environmental planning, which led to the creation of pairwise comparison matrices and the calculation of relative weights for each of the criteria. The results of this study showed that some criteria have a greater impact than others in strengthening urban resilience. In particular, the criteria of laws and regulations, transparency and understandability, changing water consumption patterns, and investment in public education were identified as the most important factors. The present study can serve as a guide for decision-makers and urban planners in designing and implementing effective strategies to increase urban resilience to the challenges of climate change.