How would Sydney bounce back from the havoc wreaked by a heatwave, act of terrorism or cyber attack that crippled the city's economy or brought its transport networks to a grinding halt?
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The answer might be more simple than you think, according to Sydney's first "resilience strategy" to help residents buffer against major disasters and the niggling stresses of urban life.
Sydney's "chief resilience officer" Beck Dawson led the plan, launched on Tuesday, as part of The Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities Program to strengthen cities.
And Ms Dawson said knowing neighbours and having an emergency plan would be critical to helping the city "survive, adapt and thrive" in the face of global uncertainty and local challenges.
The strategy looks at how to improve and strengthen many aspects of the city - its environment, infrastructure and connections between government, business and communities - to help protect it against problems affecting cities.
A city-wide risk assessment in 2016 identified eight "acute shocks" and eight "chronic stresses" that would paralyse the metropolitan area and cause widespread economic and social disruption.
Those major shocks included extreme weather, a disease pandemic, cyber or terror attacks and significant failures of financial institutions, digital networks or infrastructure.
They were underscored by ongoing stresses that included growing inequality, high housing costs, diminishing social cohesion, chronic illness and demand for health services. Other pressures were drug and alcohol abuse and a lack of diversity in transport and employment options across the city.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore said those nagging problems were not unique to Sydney and "the effects of urbanisation, globalisation and climate change are seen right around the world".
"A rapid increase in density has put pressure on schools and early education and on open space, essential services and other infrastructure," she said.
"Affordable housing is a critical issue and congestion is getting worse.
"We're seeing rising inequality, more homelessness, mental illness and obesity. And we're experiencing increasingly extreme weather events with every year classed as another breaking year in terms of rising temperatures."
Ms Dawson said the strategy to help strengthen the city against those challenges was a "turning point" after talks with 33 councils, 100 businesses and 1000 residents in the past two years.
"Our ability to bounce back is linked to the strength of connections between neighbours, businesses, councils and government entities," she said.
"As more people and organisations adopt resilience planning, our safety and quality of life will improve."
Among the plan's goals was a "cool suburbs target" to help reduce the effects of extreme heat in urban areas.
The two-year strategy will include a "cool suburbs target" to reduce extreme heat in urban areas and encourage local councils to consider "resilience planning" around infrastructure and development.
It will seek to bolster social cohesion through strong community networks and close personal relationships. Another goal is to get 100,000 Sydneysiders to download the Get Prepared app to create their own plan for emergencies.
Sydney Business Chamber president Patricia Forsythe said the plan would give Sydney organisations in public and private sectors "the tools to become more resilient in the face of physical, social and
economic challenges".
