Knowledge types and knowledge transfer mechanisms for effective resilience knowledge-sharing between cities – A case study of New Zealand

Abstract

It is becoming increasingly more important for cities and countries to build resilience to disasters. Intercity collaboration and knowledge-sharing is advocated to enhance and upskill cities in terms of resilience capabilities. Understanding how resilience knowledge is developed and can be effectively transferred between cities is thus critical. Clear guidance on intercity knowledge-sharing and collaboration for resilience, particularly at a national-level is presently missing. This research is aimed at identifying the knowledge types and knowledge-transfer mechanisms best-suited for effective resilience knowledge-sharing between cities, using a case study of New Zealand. The research adopted a sequential exploratory approach, starting with a qualitative phase followed by a quantitative phase to validate findings. The findings identified that effective knowledge-sharing for resilience between cities requires a balance of both implicit and explicit knowledge types and needs to facilitate different knowledge-sharing formats due to the complex nature in how resilience knowledge is acquired. Organizing formal knowledge-sharing needs the selection of a network type, and New Zealand opted for a thematic model.