Resilience has become an important concept in urban governance, but there is little understanding of the policies cities adopt to operationalize and build resilience. To address this gap, researchers from the Institute for Science, Technology, and Public Policy conducted a survey of the 101 largest cities in the U.S in 2019. The survey included questions about how cities define resilience, who is engaged in resilience efforts, and the policies and programs cities are adopting to build resilience. The team complemented the survey with a web-based analysis of adoption and implementation of 109 different resilience policies and programs.
Based on the survey results, only about half of the cities (46%) have a formal definition of resilience, and city officials’ understanding of resilience is multi-faceted. Broad definitions of resilience may allow more organizations and individuals to engage in resilience efforts. Indeed, we found resilience efforts are highly collaborative. In most cities, a large number of city agencies are engaged in resilience efforts, and cities commonly coordinate with outside organizations. There is large variation in adoption of resilience policies across cities. The most prevalent policies align with the traditional sustainability agenda. Although cities consider reducing social vulnerability as a key attribute of resilience, policies to reduce social vulnerability are not widely adopted. In addition, there is a need to increase adoption of policies and programs to prepare for the impacts of climate change.
Woodruff, Sierra, Ann Bowman, Richard Feiock, Bryce Hannibal, Ki Eun Kang, Jeongmin Oh, and Garett Sansom. (2020) Resilience in U.S. Cities: A Survey of Policies & Programs. 101 Resilient Cities Policies and Programs Project. Available electronically from https://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/189324.