100 Resilient Cities

Overview

In 2013, The Rockefeller Foundation pioneered 100 Resilient Cities to help more cities build resilience to the physical, social, and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century. Cities in the 100RC network were provided with the resources necessary to develop a roadmap to resilience along four main pathways:

• Financial and logistical guidance for establishing an innovative new position in city government, a Chief Resilience Officer, who will lead the city’s resilience efforts;
• Expert support for the development of a robust Resilience Strategy;
• Access to solutions, service providers, and partners from the private, public and NGO sectors who can help them develop and implement their Resilience Strategies; and
• Membership of a global network of member cities who can learn from and help each other.

More than 1,000 cities applied and 100 cities were selected, to join the Network—representing more than one-fifth of the world’s urban population. More than 50 holistic Resilience Strategies were created, which outlined over 1,800 concrete actions and initiatives. This  resulted in more than 150 collaborations between partners and cities to address city challenges, including $230 million of pledged support from platform partners and more than $655 million leveraged from national, philanthropic, and private sources to implement resilience projects.

After more than six successful years of growing and catalyzing the urban resilience movement, the 100 Resilient Cities organization within the Foundation concluded on July 31, 2019. On July 8, 2019, The Rockefeller Foundation announced an $8 million commitment to continue supporting the work of Chief Resilience Officers and member cities within the 100RC Network. This new funding enabled a new project to continue supporting the implementation of resilience initiatives incubated through the work of 100RC.