Resilience

100 Resilient Cities Program Reaches 100 Members
The Rockefeller Foundation’s global initiative for urban resilience rounded out its membership this month with the addition of 37 cities.

Op-Ed: Talking Resilience Isn't the Same as Being Resilient
Resilience, as such, isn't a problem. But Alex Beam takes issue with the current flood of resilience-related jargon. Can you blame him?

10 Ways to Make Cities Livable for the Elderly
How can the New Urban Agenda respect the elderly—and make cities better for all of us in the process?

When Mt. Rainier Blows, What Will Be Left?
As with most natural disasters, it's not a question of 'if' but 'when' when it comes to the eruption of Mount Rainier in Washington state. Scientists lay out a scenario for what to expect when the volcano erupts.

Opportunities for Urban Innovation in Houston
Kinder Institute director William Fulton discusses Houston's changing demographics and economic prospects. He sees the city as a place to pioneer and implement solutions to Sun Belt problems.

Portland Digs Into Data on Seismic Vulnerabilities
With an earthquake due to shake up the Pacific Northwest in the not so distant future, Portland has provided an online map to identify potentially vulnerable buildings in danger of suffering major damage when the big one hits.
What Can Fort McMurray Learn from Greensburg, Kansas?
Rebuilding after a major disaster offers a unique opportunity for a community to step back and ask how it wants to build.

World Bank Report: Climate Change Puts 1.3 Billion People at Risk
Among the other interesting facts acknowledged by the World Bank: the costs of dealing with the effects of climate change are already increasingly quickly.
Balancing the Scales of City Sustainability
Urbanism and smart growth are great for cities, people, and "the environment"—but neighborhood impacts must be mitigated. Kaid Benfield gives pointers on balancing the scales.
HUD's Resilience Revolution
The United States Housing and Urban Development agency is utilizing new ways to empower communities to become resilient ones. The agency's National Disaster Resilience Competition is one way they are helping cities around the U.S. achieve just that.
Colorado Releases New Resiliency Guide for Local Governments
Colorado Department of Local Affairs releases "Planning for Hazards: Land Use Solutions for Colorado," a guide and website to help Colorado agencies prepare for natural disasters and reduce risks through resilience and hazard mitigation.
Berkeley Releases Resilience Plan
Berkeley's Resilience Strategy is one of the first in the nation, and one of the first work products of the Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cites network.
Saving Coastal Cities from Climate Change
A new whitepaper outlines solutions for improving the resiliency and sustainability of coastal cities around the world—using Red Hook, Brooklyn as a case study.
Cities Try To Figure Out How To Be 'Resilient'
The organization 100 Resilient Cities has funded 'chief resilience officers' in 66 cities worldwide. It's helping four California cities prepare for 'stresses and shocks' including earthquakes, sea level rise, and even poverty.

Paris Prepares for the Worst With a Flood Drill
If the Seine rises to historic levels, Paris officials want to be ready. Earlier this month, an 11-day drill sought to prepare the city for what would happen if the Seine and Marne Rivers rose above their banks.
Making Sense of Community
Most of us Planetizen readers were inadvertently complicit in killing the term "sense of community." Scott Doyon points out where we go from here.
Madrid to Blanket Itself in Green for Climate Change Resilience
Madrid, already famous for deciding to impose stringent limitations on driving, has a plan to blanket the city in green to increase its resilience to the effects of climate change.
Charrette: A Social Innovation Lab
When charrettes and public design workshops reach their most inclusive and transparent forms, do they become social innovation labs? Hazel Borys thinks so.
New Studies Reveal 5 Reasons Policymakers Should Prioritize Local Business in 2016
A raft of recent research finds that small, local businesses are critical to overcoming many of our biggest challenges. This article rounds up the new studies and what they say about why local business should be a focus of planning in 2016.

A New Metric for Community Resilience
Though the need for resilient communities is obvious, exactly how to measure resilience is less obvious. Edward J. Jepson, Jr. provides a new metric of the evidence of a community's resilience and produces a corresponding ranking of 30 U.S. cities.
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.
New York City School Construction Authority
Village of Glen Ellyn
Central Transportation Planning Staff/Boston Region MPO
Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS)
City of Grandview
Harvard GSD Executive Education
Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada
Toledo-Lucas County Plan Commissions