How Cities Can Establish Resilient Communities

Catastrophic weather events affect thousands of U.S. residents and their property each year. In 2024, 27 separate disasters resulted in more than $1 billion in damages. In Houston, Texas, on multiple occasions, we’ve experienced severe thunderstorms, with winds up to 100 mph that knocked out power for days on end and brought torrential rains that resulted in flooding.

When these events afflict a neighborhood, residents often face displacement, pollution, health concerns, and financial hardship. In many instances, the lowest-income areas are the most at risk of suffering significant consequences and setbacks. To mitigate potential damage and risk, cities can establish resilient communities to proactively prepare for, respond to, and recover from a disaster.

Evaluating Successful Resilience Plans

We have seen how communities across North and Central America have varying resilience imperatives, including regional, state, or city priority plans. Implementing successful plans can take various forms, including emergency energy backup to power heating or cooling centers, community recovery hubs, city education centers for response to chronic challenges, or the redevelopment of inner-city coastlines to resist tidal surge and heavy rains.

For example, New Orleans has designated evacuation spots and provides shuttle services during emergencies, coordinated through a public website. Miami offers detailed storm preparation and recovery information on its website, including video guides, aid resources, and a Geographic Information System map activated during storms to show evacuation centers and aid points. These comprehensive plans have allowed their communities to withstand and recover from environmental stresses and shocks.

One solution could be integrating resilience hubs into vulnerable urban areas. Resilience hubs are multifunctional places that transform community spaces into support facilities during times of crisis — distributing necessities and providing safe shelter for local residents.

In Compton, California, underinvestment in housing and infrastructure has left the city highly vulnerable to environmental shocks. In collaboration with Buro Happold and the SoLa Impact fund, Gensler has designed a prototype 75-unit, net-zero affordable housing development and community center that doubles as a resilience hub to serve this historically underserved area.

Similarly, we have looked at city approaches that address the often overlapping and multiplying effects of weather events and chronic urban conditions, such as the inner-city urban heat island or food deserts. To achieve success, large-scale mitigation also needs to be evaluated, and both local and regional approaches must work in a collaborative and integrated way.

Creating a Model for Houston

Due to its geographic location, Houston is disproportionately affected by weather events, but the fourth-largest city in the United States does not currently have an active resilience plan. However, the city is enhancing disaster preparedness in vulnerable neighborhoods like Kashmere Gardens, a historically Black neighborhood that sits mostly within Houston’s 500- and 100-year floodplains. This includes transforming a local multipurpose center into a resilience hub that will provide shelter and resources during and after storms and distribute critical information to keep residents safe.

Houston can further improve by scaling these efforts citywide and creating more resilience hubs that offer year-round community activities and training. The city recently took steps toward helping communities become more resilient when it announced that “Houston would install 100 emergency generators at fire stations, libraries, and other locations” before the mayor’s first term ends in 2027.

Additionally, Houston should publish emergency plans tailored to local neighborhoods, guiding residents on how to respond and recover from disasters. This approach will help communities recover more quickly and effectively after hurricanes or flooding, ensuring they can move forward and rebuild.

Houston can take a cue from cities like Austin, which recently expanded its Resilience Hub Pilot Program into the Austin Resilience Network, comprised of city and community resources that equitably empower individuals to prepare for, endure, and bounce back stronger from community-wide shocks, stressors, and emergencies.

In cities facing extreme heat, like Austin and Houston, strategic design interventions can increase resiliency in vulnerable communities. Through research engagements in Austin, we developed a participatory design approach with input from community stakeholders to co-create an outdoor classroom with adaptable shade structures where students could learn and play while escaping the heat. Such community-led engagement is critical to deliver tailored solutions that communities need.

Paving a More Resilient Path Forward

Implementing policies to protect vulnerable communities from natural disasters intersects with preserving neighborhood character and incentivizing best practices in disaster response. Engagement is key to resilience — both affluent and low-income neighborhoods need residents involved in development initiatives and disaster plans.

Cities should also engage with state governments, civic associations, and neighborhoods to invest in equitable solutions and commit to sharing their learnings with peer cities. The private sector should also engage with resilience issues, which, while not immediately profitable, contribute to sustainable business climates by ensuring operations remain intact throughout a disaster and ultimately contribute to the bottom line. By involving stakeholders, cities like Houston can foster community resilience for all.