While implementing various measures to keep floodwater out of a building may seem like a no-brainer, there are actually some very significant limitations and risks.
Municipal Governments Working to Make Their Cities More Resilient
I came away optimistic that the attendees in the room weren’t going to simply sit by and wait for action; they were going to make it happen.
An Awesome New Tool for Mapping Coastal Flood Risk
In my opinion, there’s no more useful resource out there to help us understand flood hazards in coastal locations.
Fundamentals of Resilient Design: Wet Floodproofing
Letting floodwaters into a building is an important resilience measure, but it has to be done in a way that prevents damage.
Proposing a Resilient America Service Corps
Along with outdoors-focused initiatives, a Resilient America Service Corps could provide the labor needed for weatherization, installing window treatments, and carrying out deep-energy retrofits.
Engineering Our Way Out of Global Warming: Is Climate Intervention a Global Warming Solution That Republicans Will Get Behind?
I am all for carbon-capture—both the research needed to better understand it and the implementation of strategies that employ it. But albedo modification (enhanced solar reflectivity) is a different story.
Views on resilient design by some leading architects
There’s a nice discussion about resilient design in Metal Architecture magazine that was just posted. It features Robin Guenther, FAIA of Perkins + Will; Greg Mella, FAIA of SmithGroup; Robin Minnery, the new staff leader on resilience issues at the American Institute of Architects; Jeffrey Dugan, AIA of Dattner Architects;
Searching for Optimism in an Age of Climate Change
What inspired me to launch an organization to promote these and other aspects of resilient design, was the recognition that the safety aspects of these strategies might be a stronger motivation to get mainstream America on-board in achieving more sustainable, lower-carbon buildings and communities than simply “doing the right thing.”
A Dramatic Resiliency Plan to Transform New York City: The BIG U Moves Forward
The first portion of the project was approved by HUD in mid-October, 2014 for $335 million.
Looking to Resilient Design for a Cyclone-Battered Coastal City in India
The devastating cyclone, Hudhud this month in India provides an opportunity to incorporate strategies of passive survivability and resilience in the rebuilding.
The business implications of sea-level rise along the Atlantic coast, and especially in Delaware
I want us to envision an unfamiliar challenge together. I want us to think about the plans and investments we may need to make.
San Francisco Names a Chief Resilience Officer
“As CRO it will be my task to be a central point of contact for all our resiliency based plans and efforts that currently live in various departments.”
RDI’s role in two recent reports
There’s a new blog from Urban Green on the reach that the NYC Buildings Resiliency Task Force report has had beyond New York City. RDI was involved with one of these new reports–for the City of Boston. You can access the Urban Green blog here, or download a PDF of
Resilient Rockaway competition finalists named
Four finalists and six honorable mentions have been named in FARROC — For a Resilient Rockaway Competition — which we reported on here in May. The finalists hail from New York, Toronto, London and Stockholm. The teams and their designs are listed here, and the competition entries may be explored
The New York City Buildings Resiliency Task Force Presents Recommendations
The report just released by the Buildings Resiliency Task Force presents 33 detailed recommendations for improving the resiliency of New York City buildings.