Resilience, as such, isn't a problem. But Alex Beam takes issue with the current flood of resilience-related jargon. Can you blame him?

Alex Beam has a problem with "resilience," as in the cottage industry that has sprung up around that concept. "Resilience means the ability to bounce back after adversity," a simple trait that most people, and most cities, possess to a certain degree. But what about the constant talk of resilience, so often turning it into some undefined holy grail in the realm of the public good?
Beam highlights the jargony prose that characterizes resilience-speak, no doubt well-intended but lacking in the common sense department. "[The Rockefeller Foundation] is all in on resilience, with a Global Resilience Partnership, the National Disaster Resilience Competition, and the 100 Resilient Cities program, in which Boston is participating. Among the resilience officers' duties, the foundation's website explains, is 'ensuring that the city applies a resilience lens so that resources are leveraged holistically and projects planned for synergy.'"
The point: resilience may be joining "sustainability" as a word that has been done to death. As Beam puts it, "Resilience talk is just a little too glib, a little too modish, a little too nonsensical for my tastes. Americans seem to me like the least resilient people on earth, obsessing over bathroom access and Twitter wars while one-tenth of the planet starves to death. Starbucks ran out of one percent milk? I'm calling my congressman!"
FULL STORY: What’s all this talk about resilience?

Chicago Red Line Extension Could Transform the South Side
The city’s transit agency is undertaking its biggest expansion ever to finally bring rail to the South Side.

Planetizen’s Top Planning Books of 2023
The world is changing, and planning with it.

Why College Campuses Make Ideal Models for Cities
College campuses serve as ideal models for cities, with their integrated infrastructure, vibrant communities, sustainability initiatives, and innovation hubs inspiring urban planning and development for a brighter future.

Study: Homeless People Face Higher Mortality Risk
Unhoused adults are more than three times as likely to die in any given year as their housed counterparts, research shows.

Study: Equity in Car Share Programs Requires Low Cost, Broad Coverage
Data from a Los Angeles car share program showed its impact on underserved communities was ‘limited by its small footprint.’

The Largest U.S. City Lacking Mass Transit
Arlington, Texas has the dubious distinction of being the largest city in the nation with no fixed-route public transit system.
University of New Mexico - School of Architecture & Planning
Placer County
San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC)
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
Arizona State University, Ten Across
Park City Municipal Corporation
National Capital Planning Commission
City of Santa Fe, New Mexico
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.