100 Resilient Cities
By 2050, 75 percent of the global population are expected to live in cities.
Because of the collision of globalization, urbanization, and climate change, not a week goes by that there’s not a disruption to a city somewhere in the world: a cyber attack, a natural disaster, or economic or social upheaval. Meanwhile, cities face acute stresses, such as poverty, endemic crime and violence, or failing infrastructure, that weaken a city over time.
While cities can’t predict which disruptions will come next, they can plan for them, learn from them, and generate additional benefits through the same investments, such as opportunities for economic growth or improved parks for city residents. In other words, they can achieve “resilience dividends” that can make cities better places to live not just in times of emergency, but every single day.
Our Strategy
In 2013, The Rockefeller Foundation pioneered 100 Resilient Cities to help more cities build resilience to the physical, social, and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century. Cities in the 100RC network are provided with the resources necessary to develop a roadmap to resilience along four main pathways:
- Financial and logistical guidance for establishing an innovative new position in city government, a Chief Resilience Officer, who will lead the city’s resilience efforts;
- Expert support for development of a robust Resilience Strategy;
- Access to solutions, service providers, and partners from the private, public and NGO sectors who can help them develop and implement their Resilience Strategies; and
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Membership of a global network of member cities who can learn from and help each other.
To date, more than 1,000 cities have applied, and 100 cities have been selected, to join the Network—representing more than one-fifth of the world’s urban population. Currently, more than 30 holistic Resilience Strategies have been created, which have outlined over 1,800 concrete actions and initiatives. This has resulted in more than 150 collaborations between partners and cities to address city challenges, including $230 million of pledged support from platform partners and more than $655 million leveraged from national, philanthropic, and private sources to implement resilience projects.
To learn more, and to view the complete list of cities and platform partners, visit www.100resilientcities.org.
