Will your City be among the “ 100 Resilient Cities “?

“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.”

― Charles Darwin

The world’s cities are facing two clear trends. First, we are living in an increasingly urbanized world, with the percentage of people living in cities projected to increase from approximately 50% today to an estimated 75% by 2050.Second, while those cities are quickly growing, the natural and man-made threats that they face are becoming more frequent and intense. So the question is, how will cities confront these changes?

While one can’t predict which disruptions will come next, we can plan for them, learn from them and grow after them. 100 Resilient Cities – Pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation- will face these disruptions by supporting 100 cities that are ready to adopt innovative approaches to building resilience to the physical, economic, and social challenges that are increasingly a part of 21^stcentury life. These challenges are not just shocks such as fires, floods, and earthquakes, but also stresses such as endemic crime, chronic food and water shortages and monolithic economies.

Eligibility Criteria

Any city, defined as a legal governmental entity with a population of over 50,000 inhabitants possessing a municipal government or other elected or appointed chief executive officer uniquely assigned to govern that population, is eligible to apply.

Major institutions (e.g., a non-profit organization, university, chamber of commerce, or research centre) that have an affiliation with a city are also eligible to apply if they satisfy the following two requirements:

(1) Within the required letter of support, the highest ranking official must indicate agreement with all entry form answers and

(2) The entry form must include at least one city contact and a valid email address. Affiliated organizations may also apply when a city cannot represent itself for legal reasons

Deadline: September 10, 2014

The Finalists identified during the 2014 100 Resilient Cities Challenge will be eligible to receive:

• Funding in the form of a grant to hire a Chief Resilience Officer;
• Technical support to develop a holistic resilience strategy that reflects each city’s distinct needs;
• Access to an innovative platform of services to support strategy development and implementation. Platform partners come from the private, public, and non-profit sectors, and will offer tools in areas such as innovative finance, technology, infrastructure, land use, and community and social resilience;
• Membership in the 100 Resilient Cities network to share knowledge and practices with other member cities.

Members of the 100 Resilient Cities team and a panel of expert judges, have the hard task of shortlisting entries. Here is what they are looking for:

An engaged Mayor or chief executive who shows a commitment to resilience building and an understanding of the broad implications and benefits successful resilience planning can bring;

An ability on the part of the city to work across sectors and levels of government, as well as engage in partnerships with the private sector, NGO’s and civil society groups to achieve complex goals and:

A catalyst for change including a recent or impending shock, or an ongoing or reoccurring acute stress, that is deeply affecting the city and its citizens.

Last year the 100 Resilient Cities Challenge identified 32 cities that started the Resilient Cities Network. This year the Challenge will uncover the next group of cities ready to lead the urban resilience movement. Will your city be ready to face the shocks and stresses to come? Now is the time to build resilience. Apply for the 100 Resilient Cities Challenge here today.