As the recent wildfires in Los Angeles have shown, resilience in the built environment is essential to save lives and help communities thrive, despite the sometimes catastrophic effects of climate change. From fires to floods, extreme heat to intense superstorms, sea level rise to drought, the dangers are proliferating and require solutions sensitive to local conditions.
The Urban Land Institute’s Urban Resilience program maintains a library of case studies that model best practices in resilience at developingresilience.uli.org. The following projects, drawn from the library, include master-planned communities designed to protect homes from wildfires and minimize water consumption, a water utility headquarters building that treats and reuses wastewater on site, mixed-income and affordable housing complexes that incorporate a resilience hub for residents, and a mixed-income community that withstood a hurricane relatively unscathed even before its construction was complete.
1. Aurora Bioswales
Seattle, Washington
As local developer HessCallahanGrey Group embarked on a commercial office project at Lake Union, along the base of Seattle’s Aurora Bridge, the firm became aware of the devastating impact of roadway runoff upon the salmon population—a problem expected to worsen as extreme rainstorms grow more common. HessCallahanGrey Group worked with state and city officials, local architecture firm Weber Thompson, the local offices of KPFF and DCI Engineers, and an array of public and private partners to create three bioswales beneath the bridge. Together, the swales treat almost two million gallons (7.6 million l) of toxic stormwater runoff from the bridge each year.
A series of terraced plantings with Corten steel dams slow and filter the water, while native Pacific Northwest vegetation helps remove contaminants before the water reaches local waterways. Educational signage and artistic elements, such as salmon silhouettes cut into the steel weirs, help inform the public about water quality and local ecology. The project’s success led Seattle Public Utilities to create new incentive programs for other developers to make similar improvements. The bioswales were completed in 2020.
2. Bayshore Villas
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Although still under construction in 2017, the 174-unit mixed-income community Bayshore Villas withstood Hurricane Maria with minimal disruption, even as much of Puerto Rico lost power for months. When word got around, 2,400 families applied for the complex’s 40 market-rate apartments, according to developers McCormack Baron Salazar. Resilient design features include impact-resistant windows and doors, reinforced concrete structures, and a photovoltaic system with backup generators. Underground cisterns can hold more than 70,000 gallons (265,000 l) of stormwater. Buildings are oriented to take advantage of the trade winds’ cooling breezes.
Built on the former site of a 1930s-era, inward-facing public housing complex, Bayshore Villas spreads 12 new four-story buildings across three blocks, with winding public paths, windows that offer views to the waterfront, and large plazas for gatherings. McCormack Baron Salazar—headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri—partnered with the local housing department and the local office of architecture firm Álvarez-Díaz & Villalón on the development, which was completed in 2019.
3. Civita
San Diego, California
As drought conditions intensify in southern California, a 230-acre mixed-use development begun in the early 2000s demonstrates drought resilience in arid environments. Civita will ultimately encompass nearly 5,000 houses and apartments, a lifestyle retail center, an office/business campus, and an elementary school, all organized around the 14.3-acre (5.8 ha) Civita Park and its network of pedestrian paths and trails. Constructed on a former sand and gravel quarry, the development incorporates low-flow plumbing fixtures, water heater recirculation systems, smart water meters in residential units, and drought-resistant native landscaping watered by a weather-based irrigation system.
The development team, a partnership between local firms Sudberry Properties and Alta Company LLC, is constructing its own membrane bioreactor water reclamation facility to treat and reuse graywater and blackwater onsite for irrigation. Overall, Civita’s water efficiency strategies are expected to reduce overall water consumption by 26 percent, according to the development team. Designed by the local office of Carrier Johnson + Culture, Civita wrapped up its first phase in 2024.
4. Credit Human Federal Credit Union Building
San Antonio, Texas
After more than four decades in its previous headquarters, Credit Human Federal Credit Union constructed a new, 200,000-square-foot (18,580 sq m) one, north of downtown San Antonio, with a commitment to sustainability. The 12-story building—eight levels of offices above four of parking—captures and reuses nearly 140,000 gallons (530,000 l) of rainwater and air conditioning condensate for irrigation, toilet flushing, and cooling, cutting its municipal water demand by 97 percent. Energy-efficient measures such as high-performance insulation and thermally broken windows, along with rooftop solar arrays and geothermal heating and cooling systems, have cut power use from the municipal utility company by 96 percent.
These sustainability strategies have reduced monthly utility expenses from $44,000 at the credit union’s two previous buildings to just $8,600 in the new building, which has a larger square footage than its predecessors combined. The local firm Don B McDonald Architect AIA Ltd and Houston-based Kirksey Architecture designed the building, which opened in 2021.
5. Denver Water Headquarters
Denver, Colorado
Denver Water’s five-year redevelopment of its 35-acre (14 ha) operations complex in Denver showcases water efficiency and reuse strategies, particularly in its new administration building. The overall project, which involved demolishing 15 outdated buildings, renovating two buildings, and constructing several new facilities, revamped a historic site that had served the utility since 1881.
The administration building’s water recycling system can process up to 7,000 gallons (26,000 l) of wastewater daily from restrooms and the cafeteria. The treatment process routes water through closed and open aerobic tanks, constructed wetlands, and filtration before reusing it for toilet flushing and irrigation. The project architect—the local office of Stantec—placed the wetlands in the lobby to double as an indoor landscape amenity, with educational signage explaining how the system works. Rainwater capture systems supply the irrigation system, as well. Other water-smart features include porous paving, bioswales, and a native detention pond. The local office of Trammell Crow Company served as master developer for the building, which opened in 2019.
6. Finch Cambridge
Cambridge, Massachusetts
A former gas station site in Cambridge now provides 98 mixed-income residential units in a six-story Passive House–certified building that is prepared for such climate challenges as floods and extreme heat. Developed by the local nonprofit organization Homeowner’s Rehab Inc., the building’s lobby, residential units, and mechanical equipment are positioned higher than the projected 2070 flood plain. An 8,000-gallon (30,000 l) stormwater collection tank collects runoff to reduce stress on city systems.
Triple-glazed windows facilitate cross-ventilation, and a 105-kilowatt solar array generates 20 percent of the building’s electricity. These features—combined with an airtight building envelope, sunshades on south- and west-facing windows, high-performance insulation, electric heat pumps, and right-sized mechanical systems—enable the project to achieve an energy-use intensity of 23 percent–72 percent less than the 2016 national average for multifamily buildings and prepare residents well for extreme heat and cold. The sixth-floor community space doubles as a resilience hub, with a generator that can keep the space air conditioned for residents during a power outage. Designed by ICON Architecture of Boston, Finch Cambridge opened in 2020.
7. Maceo May
San Francisco, California
To provide stable housing for formerly homeless veterans and their families, two San Francisco–based nonprofit organizations, Chinatown Community Development Center and Swords to Plowshares, teamed up to create Maceo May, a six-story, all-electric building with 105 units on Treasure Island, in San Francisco Bay. The San Francisco office of Mithun designed the building to withstand multiple challenges, including sea level rise, power shutoffs and smoke caused by wildfires, extreme heat, and seismic events.
Every residential unit has its own energy recovery ventilator with MERV 13 filters to maintain air quality. Awnings, window shrouds, ceiling fans, mineral wool insulation, and argon-filled insulated glazing help occupants weather extreme heat events. The rooftop solar array’s battery storage system can power the first-floor community room/resilience hub in case of power outages. The building’s all-electric systems eliminate reliance on natural gas infrastructure, which is vulnerable to earthquakes. Amenities include an electric vehicle parking area, bicycle storage, and a healing garden. Maceo May opened in 2023.
8. Rancho Mission Viejo
Orange County, California
Wildfire resilience informed the transformation of a privately owned ranch into the master-planned community of Rancho Mission Viejo, which opened in 2013. Ultimately intended to house 35,000 residents in 14,000 homes, with five million square feet (464,000 sq m) of retail and commercial space, the developed portion of the community occupies a quarter of the site, with the remainder set aside as a habitat preserve.
With the help of fire behavior modeling, the developers, Rancho Mission Viejo LLC, crafted a fire protection program in partnership with local and state fire authorities. The program clusters residential areas into neighborhoods and surrounds them with fuel modification zones 110 feet to 170 feet (34m to 52 m) wide. Strict landscaping protocols prohibit fire-prone species and mandates noncombustible construction materials and fire sprinklers. Although these measures initially added $4,000 to $10,000 per home in construction costs, the price premium has decreased significantly as wildfire-resistant construction becomes standard practice in California’s wildland/urban interface. The community’s most recent village, Rienda, opened in 2022.
9. Rodney Cook Sr. Peace Park
Atlanta, Georgia
Flooding plagued Atlanta’s historic Vine City, a primarily Black residential neighborhood, for years before Tropical Storm Hanna flooded dozens of houses there in 2002, prompting the city to buy up 60 properties and relocate residents. After an extensive community engagement process led by city officials and the local office of Trust for Public Land, the site reopened in 2021 as Rodney Cook Sr. Peace Park, Across its 16 acres (6.5 ha), it includes a detention pond and a constructed wetland capable of capturing 10 million gallons (38 million l) of stormwater during intense rainstorms. The green infrastructure also serves the broader Proctor Creek/North Avenue watershed and helps reduce peak loads on the city’s sewer system.
The park honors Vine City’s civil rights legacy with statues of such leaders as John Lewis and Martin Luther King Jr., and it offers walking paths, sports courts, a splash pad, and an amphitheater. Native plantings and shade trees help combat urban heat island effects. Designed by the local offices of HDR and Freese and Nichols, the park has helped catalyze revitalization in a neighborhood that has long suffered from disinvestment.
10. Sterling Ranch
Douglas County, Colorado
No grassy lawns are allowed at Sterling Ranch, a master-planned community 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Denver. Instead, residents can choose from more than 150 drought-tolerant and native plants to landscape their yards, selected in partnership with the Denver Botanic Gardens. Planned to house 30,000 residents eventually in 12,050 homes across nine villages, the 3,400-acre (1,376 ha) development represents the state’s first municipal-scale rainwater harvesting pilot project. The local Smethills family, which developed the community, aims to source 70 percent of the community’s water from renewable sources such as rainwater and snowmelt.
Dual meters let residents track water consumption in real-time and distinguish between indoor and outdoor water use—particularly helpful because rates are higher for outdoor watering. Smart irrigation controllers respond to local weather data. Because of these measures, Sterling Ranch uses half the water of comparable communities in the Denver metro area. Three of the nine villages have opened since Sterling Ranch’s grand opening in 2017; two new parks opened in 2024.
For more on resilient building strategies and beyond, be sure to check out the upcoming ULI Resilience Summit in Denver on May 15, right after ULI’s Spring Meeting.
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