Today I was in Singapore, a city whose first 50 years has served as a model for building urban resilience, to announce the next 35 cities to join the 100 Resilient Cities Network. These cities will join the initial group of 32 cities announced in New York last December in receiving:
- The support to hire and empower a Chief Resilience Officer, a central point of contact within each city to coordinate and oversee the resilience activities, coordinate stakeholders, and ensure resilience is a city-wide priority,
- The support for that Chief Resilience Officer to develop a resilience plan,
- Access to a platform of services from private and non-profit sector partners to support the implementation of that a strategy,
- And, perhaps most importantly, connection to other Network members—to share what works, celebrate successes, and advance the larger discussion on urban resilience.
We were blown away by the thought and detail that went into this year’s applications, and the dedication each city demonstrated in confronting its challenges with innovative and collaborative solutions.
Some highlights from this round of the Challenge include:
- Applications were submitted by 331 cities across 94 countries, spanning six continents and written in 7 different languages.
- The sizes of the entrant cities ranged from fifty thousand to well over ten million.
- Nearly 70 percent of all Challenge entries came from the developing world.
- And more than 80 percent indicated an excitement to partner with other cities in their resilience efforts.
With the addition of the 35 new cities, the 100 Resilient Cities Network will now impact more than 700 million people across the globe: that means one-fifth of the world’s urban population now lives in a city that is a part of 100 Resilient Cities Network.
And we’re not done yet. Next year, we’ll announce the final cohort of cities to join the Network, rounding out the 100. But for these cities just announced, the work begins today.
Listed by region, they are:
Africa
Accra (Ghana)
Arusha (Tanzania)
Enugu (Nigeria)
Kigali (Rwanda)
Europe
Athens (Greece)
Barcelona (Spain)
Belgrade (Serbia)
Lisboa (Portugal)
London (UK)
Milan (Italy)
Paris (France)
Thessaloniki (Greece)
Latin America and the Caribbean
Cali (Colombia)
Juarez (Mexico)
San Juan (United States)
Santa Fe (Argentina)
Santiago de los Caballeros (Dominican Republic)
Santiago, Metropolitan Region (Chile)
Middle East
Amman (Jordan)
North America
Boston (United States)
Chicago (United States)
Dallas (United States)
Montreal (Canada)
Pittsburgh (United States)
St. Louis (United States)
Tulsa (United States)
Oceania
Sydney (Australia)
Wellington City (New Zealand)
South, Southeast, and East Asia
Bengaluru (India)
Chennai (India)
Deyang (China)
Huangshi (China)
Phnom Penh (Cambodia)
Singapore (Singapore)
Toyama (Japan)
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