ULI to Partner with 100 Resilient Cities to Help Improve Resilience of Urban Areas Globally

ULI has announced a partnership with 100 Resilient Cities (100RC), pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation, becoming part of its Platform of Partners. In this capacity, ULI will offer expertise on building for resilience to a select group of 100RC cities as they design and implement their comprehensive resilience strategies.

The Platform Partners are a vital component of 100RC’s efforts, providing cities with tools they need to prepare for, withstand, and bounce back from acute shocks such as hurricanes, fires, and floods, as well as ongoing stresses, such as water shortages, homelessness, and unemployment. Current Platform Partners represent a wide array of leaders from the private sector, the public sector, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and the academic community.

“In an increasingly complex and challenging world, cities need partnerships with organizations such as ULI to withstand the shocks and stresses of the 21st century,” said Michael Berkowitz, president of 100 Resilient Cities. “By providing advisory services to our network cities, ULI is leading by example and is helping to build a global resilience movement.”

ULI’s participation as a 100RC partner involves resilience guidance to cities through its Advisory Services program, as well as Technical Assistance Program (TAP) panels led by 51 locally based district councils across the United States. Through the 100 Resilient Cities’ Platform Partnership, ULI will convene one Advisory Services panel and two TAP panels per year.

“We are excited to be a 100 Resilient Cities partner, as the goals of the program align well with ULI’s efforts to improve community building worldwide,” said Patrick L. Phillips, ULI global chief executive officer. “ULI has an 80-year track record of helping cities reinvent themselves to be more resilient, livable, and successful, and we look forward to bringing the Institute’s tradition of knowledge sharing to the program.”

Through its Advisory Services program, ULI convenes experts representing all aspects of land use and real estate to offer advice on community building in a way that helps preserve the environment, boost economic prosperity, and foster a high quality of life. As part of this program, ULI has provided advice on building for resilience to several cities across the nation, including Norfolk, Virginia; El Paso, Texas; and Duluth, Minnesota; as well as Miami-Dade County, Florida.

ULI kicked off the new partnership by hosting a “Ten Principles for Building Resilience” workshop at the ULI headquarters in Washington, D.C., in May.

The workshop was chaired by Marilyn Jordan Taylor, former ULI global chair, and included a panel of 16 ULI members and resilience collaborators, most of whom have been active with ULI’s resilience-focused Advisory Services panels. The panel also included two 100RC chief resilience officers—Jim Murley with Miami-Dade County and Christine Morris with Norfolk—as well as Mariane Jang, head of the Strategy Partner Network for 100RC. Together, the group analyzed the findings of each of ULI’s resilience-focused Advisory Services panels to develop a report that encompasses the environmental, social, economic, land use, and financial aspects of resilience. The report will be available in late summer.

The 100RC initiative is dedicated to helping cities become more resilient to the shocks and stresses that are a growing part of the 21st century. Each city in the 100RC network receives four concrete types of support:

• financial and logistical guidance for establishing a new position in city government—a chief resilience officer to lead the city’s resilience efforts;
• technical support for development of a robust resilience strategy;
• access to solutions, service providers, and partners from the private, public, academic, and NGO sectors who can help the city develop and implement its resilience strategies; and
• membership in a global network of peers who can learn from and help each other.

Platform Partners are dedicated to providing 100RC network cities with solutions that integrate big data, analytics, technology, resilient land use planning, infrastructure design, and new financing and insurance products. Other 100RC Platform Partners include Microsoft, Swiss Re, the World Bank, MasterCard, Veolia, and Sandia National Laboratories.