Criteria for selecting partner cities in a national-level resilience network

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to establish the factors affecting the selection of a suitable partner city for resilience building at the national level. Design/methodology/approach: An exploratory sequential research was adopted using New Zealand as a case study. Data were collected through focus groups and semi-structured interviews and subsequently validated through an online survey. Findings: The study confirmed that the criteria for selecting partner cities for collaboration and knowledge sharing on resilience were similarity of hazards, geographic proximity, city resources and priorities, resilience performance, city size and demographics, previous relationship, willingness to collaborate and similar industries. Practical implications: The findings of this paper will help guide cities that are interested in developing national-level resilience partnerships through the process of selecting the most suitable partner cities. Originality/value: Despite the existence of international intercity resilience networks, there is a lack of information on the criteria affecting the selection of suitable resilience partner cities at the national level. This paper addresses this gap and offers informed decision-making criteria for cities to consider.