A Framework for a New World
By 2050, more than 70 percent of the world’s population will live in urban areas, with a half billion people already living in high risk coastal areas. Shocks and stresses have become “the new normal” for many urban regions around the world.
100 Resilient Cities was launched by the Rockefeller foundation in 2013 to work with cities to develop strategies and approaches to building their resilience—from protecting against shocks like natural disasters, or longer-term stresses like high unemployment rates, poor air and water quality, or weak and ineffective public transit. Supported by 100RC, cities developed integrated resilience-building solutions for the natural and built environment as well as for their most critical social and economic problems.
Consistent with Dr. Rodin’s goal for the Rockefeller Foundation’s work under her leadership to empower communities to thrive on their own rather than “save” them or offer temporary solutions, 100 Resilient Cities represented a holistic endeavor to protect and improve the lives and livelihoods of millions of people around the world.
When it was launched, however, Dr. Rodin and her team knew that helping cities face the threats of the 21st century would be a decades-long challenge. The network of cities that was established as 100RC will now continue as The Global Resilient Cities Network, sharing knowledge and capacity-building for the former 100RC cities.
Key members of the 100RC leadership team will be carrying on their efforts to bring urban resilience-building strategies and practices to more places world-wide through a new non-profit, Resilient Cities Catalyst (RCC). RCC engages the experience of deep resilience experts to build resilience roadmaps that create enabling environments for taking action, and to develop resilience projects with the most advanced technical, financial and project implementation expertise available. It will also catalyze new resilience innovation and learning for the next generation of solutions.
To learn more about early urban resilience initiatives, visit our case studies section.
