Resilience

In an acknowledgement that significant climate change is a real and growing threat (and unlikely to be averted), President Obama will direct federal agencies to make it easier for localities plan for, and adapt to, a warming planet.

November 2, 2013 - The New York Times

Hurricane Sandy served as a wake up call for many cities to the dangers of rising seas and more extreme storms. To prepare for these threats, officials in Boston have proposed zoning rules that would require developers to detail mitigation measures.

November 1, 2013 - The Boston Globe

Despite warnings of the threats posed by rising seas and more extreme storms in the years leading up to Hurricane Sandy, the New York region's preparations lagged behind where experts thought they should be. Has anything changed since Sandy?

October 25, 2013 - Fast Company Co.Exist

Recent controversies have called into question whether Los Angeles officials have done all they can to prepare the city for its next big earthquake. Mayor Eric Garcetti is making earthquake preparedness a top priority.

October 20, 2013 - Los Angeles Times

Based on lessons from recent disasters in Chicago and New York, where lively urban spaces helped communities to survive and recover, Michael Kimmelman suggests that neighborhood libraries could be designed with such a purpose in mind.

October 6, 2013 - The New York Times

New York City's 5.3 million square feet of “leftover” street space provides a prime opportunity to create public amenities and a more resilient city. Eric Tan and his colleagues at Gensler have created modular "Street Squares" to fill the void.

October 4, 2013 - Fast Company Co.Exist

With extreme weather on the rise across the United States, a recent competition asked architects to design the resilient home of the future. The winners offer an impressive "balance between resiliency and livability," writes Emily Badger.

October 4, 2013 - The Atlantic Cities

What has the United States lost in its journey from a nation of communities to a nation of individuals? Resilience, for one, says Scott Doyon, who suggests how we can utilize community design and planning processes to regrow social ties.

August 14, 2013 - PlaceShakers

The term "sustainability" carries so much baggage that we're no longer able to talk about what we actually need to talk about. What can we do to depoliticize it?

August 8, 2013 - PlaceShakers

To celebrate its 100th anniversary, the Rockefeller Foundation is kicking off a three-year worldwide competition to select 100 cities to receive training and support to boost their resilience.

May 14, 2013 - The Atlantic Cities

While a massive redevelopment project waits to proceed, an 80-acre oceanfront site in the Far Rockaway neighborhood of New York City will host a competition to advance concepts for resilient waterfront development, reports Matt Chaban.

April 18, 2013 - Crain's New York Business

Does your community allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good? Scott Doyon kicks off an ongoing look at community-unfriendly behaviors.

January 29, 2013 - PlaceShakers

Are we growing more connected, yet further and further apart? And how does this bode for the resilience of the communities we share? Scott Doyon finds promise as of yet unfulfilled.

January 18, 2013 - PlaceShakers

From roof mounted gas-powered generators to emergency floodgates and watertight mechanical rooms, developers and their designers in New York are already incorporating preventative measures into new and revised designs for their buildings.

January 17, 2013 - The New York Times

The "great global project" of this century, says Patrick Doherty, is how to "accommodate 3 billion additional middle-class aspirants in two short decades." In a bold essay, he outlines how the U.S. must lead the global transition to sustainability.

January 15, 2013 - Foreign Policy

Saying "no" to Walmart does not remove the wants and needs they exist to serve. If you want a more locally-oriented community, you need a more local-friendly system, says Scott Doyon.

December 4, 2012 - PlaceShakers

Justin Davidson argues that New York's ability to adapt to the effects of climate change will rely on the city learning to embrace nature rather than vainly trying to fight it.

November 5, 2012 - New York Magazine

As we've heard recently, many of the places most vulnerable to rising sea levels and extreme weather are in developing countries. Encouragingly, however, Sandy revealed several low-cost solutions to help mitigate the impacts of severe storms.

November 4, 2012 - The New York Times

Cassim Shepard and Varick Shute respond to an exhortation by Governor Cuomo to "build [the New York City area] back smarter" in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, and in the face of changing weather patterns, with some ideas on what that will entail.

November 3, 2012 - Urban Omnibus

Although "two of the hottest buzzwords in urban planning" - resilience and sustainability - are often used interchangeably, in many cases they actually work against each other. David Biello examines why both are crucial for the future of our cities.

October 23, 2012 - Slate