The Planning Lady

Podcast Recap

For the past ten years, Island Press has been publishing a compilation of articles surrounding resilience. As a partner of the Booked on Planning Podcast, we have covered this publication for the past three years of the show, this year with the opportunity to interview the editor, Laurie Mazur. While typically centered around a topic like Health, this years publication was a look back over the past 10 years of articles on the topic of resilience.

Climate resilience has evolved significantly over the past decade, transitioning from a buzzword to a comprehensive framework for addressing the escalating challenges of climate change. In our conversation with Lori we gain valuable insights into how our understanding of resilience has matured and the critical factors that contribute to truly resilient communities.

When the Urban Resilience Project launched a decade ago, “resilience” was often simplistically defined as the ability to bounce back after disaster. However, as Mazur points out, “bouncing back to the unsustainable, unjust status quo pretty much guarantees that we get more disasters.” The project aimed to redefine resilience as “the capacity of a community to anticipate, plan for, and mitigate the risks—and seize the opportunities—associated with environmental and social change.” This more comprehensive definition acknowledges that resilience isn’t merely about recovery but about transformation and adaptation.

One of the most profound insights from a decade of resilience work is the inextricable connection between justice and effective climate adaptation. The opening article in the 10-year compilation highlights that resilience cannot exist without justice and trust. Communities where citizens trust their institutions and each other fare significantly better during disasters. As Mazur explains, social cohesion can literally save lives—referencing Eric Klinenberg’s research on how community connections determined survival rates during a Chicago heat wave, particularly among vulnerable elderly residents. When neighbors check on each other and community bonds are strong, resilience increases dramatically regardless of economic resources.

The increasing frequency and severity of climate disasters have brought resilience concerns into sharper focus. Last year alone, the United States experienced 27 major weather disasters, resulting in 568 deaths and approximately $180 billion in damages—the second highest number of billion-dollar weather disasters in American history. These escalating impacts have heightened awareness of how climate vulnerability reflects and amplifies existing social inequities. Neighborhoods subjected to historical redlining policies face temperatures up to 15 degrees hotter than wealthier areas with more green space and are often more susceptible to flooding due to their location in low-lying areas with inadequate infrastructure.

A particularly interesting aspect of resilience thinking pertains to the balance between interconnectedness and self-sufficiency. Mazur suggests that “resilient systems tend to be modular—they can connect to larger networks on a good day, but they can also disconnect and be somewhat self-sufficient on a bad day.” This principle applies across various domains, from energy systems with solar panels and battery backup to supply chains and community structures. The pandemic and recent supply chain disruptions have prompted a reconsideration of just-in-time delivery models in favor of more resilient, redundant systems.

Perhaps most encouragingly, some of the most effective climate resilience work is happening at the local level through community-based organizations. Mazur shares compelling examples like Catalyst Miami, which partnered with a local university to collect citizen science data on heat exposure in places where people actually live, work, and wait for buses—data that differed significantly from official measurements taken at the airport. This community initiative led Miami-Dade County to appoint the nation’s first chief heat officer and develop comprehensive heat mitigation strategies that have since been adopted by multiple other cities.

Looking ahead to the next decade of resilience work, Mazur anticipates more pragmatic success stories emerging from local communities across the political spectrum as climate impacts intensify. Even in states where climate change might not be officially acknowledged, practical adaptations are being implemented as insurance companies withdraw coverage and extreme weather events multiply. The conversation around managed retreat from vulnerable coastal areas will also likely gain prominence, with approximately 50 million Americans currently living in coastal cities threatened by rising seas and stronger storms.

For planners, policymakers, and community advocates, the lessons from a decade of resilience work underscore the importance of building trust, prioritizing justice, strengthening community bonds, and developing solutions from the ground up rather than imposing them from the outside. As climate challenges intensify, these principles will become even more critical for communities seeking not just to survive but to thrive in a changing world.

Hear more great insights from the podcast recording here.