Resilient Cities Catalyst

Moving the Resilience Movement Forward

Last week we celebrated the launch of a new organization,  Resilient Cities Catalyst (RCC), which will help unlock the incredible potential of cities, institutions and communities to solve their most urgent challenges. RCC will provide a critical link for innovation, research, and finance to further drive the urban resilience movement by continuing to work intensively on the ground in cities around the world. When we and our colleagues at The Rockefeller Foundation founded 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) in 2013, we identified how the shocks and stresses of the 21st Century would challenge people across all geographies, capacities and income levels, but especially the poor and vulnerable. To help expand upon this important beginning, RCC will seek partnerships and advocates, and I hope that many of you will collaborate with, support, or follow its work.

We enter this next decade confronted by challenges of a scope and scale that human societies have never faced. Our world is bursting with potential and yet, for so many, tearing apart at the seams. The swell of economic change and cultural pressure brought upon by globalization have created both unprecedented wealth and unfathomable disparities. The churn and deep uncertainty of climate change and its multifaceted impacts have sparked both a new generation of leadership and innovation, and hastened a retreat to isolationist policies. And the fierce and explosive pace of urbanization across the developing world is forging new homes, communities, and livelihoods for billions, and, for others, upending ways of life that have persisted for centuries.

How do we hold onto our identity and dignity, our communities, and our hope in the face of so much turbulence? I believe that investing in resilience -- that capacity to survive, transform and even thrive in the face of adversity -- is going to be essential for navigating the unsettling and rapid churn of the 21st Century.

Resilient Cities Catalyst is geared to harness the energy and dynamism of cities to build a better future for humanity. By leveraging the lessons from 100RC, and expanding that approach beyond a defined network of cities and partners, I see tremendous potential for building the resilience that our communities, institutions and cities will so critically need.

Now is the time to double-down on resilience. I hope you will join me in celebrating and supporting this new venture!

#resilience