Climate change, disasters, and community resilience
Climate extremes like floods and wildfires are becoming more frequent and severe in the US and threaten the health, safety, and prosperity of American families and communities. Climate-focused policies can help mitigate this while enhancing sustainability and advancing equity and environmental justice. Urban examines how climate change is affecting people and communities and identifies policies and programs with the greatest potential for impact. Policymakers, community leaders, and philanthropists rely on our research to ensure climate interventions are equitable and lasting for all people and communities.

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  • Tags Climate impacts and community resilience Equitable disaster recovery Climate displacement and migration Climate justice Environmental justice Planning for climate change Climate safety net Just transition Decarbonization and greenhouse gas reduction Equitable emergency management policy Climate resilient housing

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    Senior Fellow
    Colead, Climate and Communities Practice Area
    Principal Research Associate
    Colead, Climate and Communities Practice Area
    Senior Research Associate

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    As the climate changes, communities need innovative policies and programs to build resilience and reduce the harmful impacts of extreme weather. Today’s leaders also have unparalleled opportunities to invest in communities so they can effectively embrace transitions from a fossil fuel–based economy to one fueled by renewable energy. It is critical that all can thrive amid new, climate-related interventions. 

    To support these evolving efforts, the Urban Institute provides impact-driven research, technical assistance, policy analysis, and strategic communications for changemakers seeking to build safer, more prosperous, and resilient communities for everyone. We work with policymakers, city planners, and community leaders to understand how past, current, and upcoming decisions shape a community’s climate risk and to identify strategies to equitably adapt to an uncertain future. Our experts seek to advance evidence and policy and programmatic solutions to ensure the following:

    • All people and communities are safe from the warming climate, now and in the future.
    • Climate investments are maximally effective, and their benefits are shared equitably, reach the people and communities most in need, and are delivered with urgency. 
    • Decarbonization goals are met without reducing economic opportunity and pathways to upward mobility, especially for those who have been historically and systematically excluded.

    Urban’s climate change, disasters, and community resilience team relies on the breadth of knowledge across the institute to inform and strengthen our work, collaborating with colleagues whose expertise intersects with ours, including health policy researchers who study how climate change affects health outcomes for different groups of people and land-use and transportation experts who can chart the path toward emissions reductions at scale. 

    Our Impact 

    Urban has a track record of solutions-oriented research across diverse policy areas centered on climate change. Our climate change, disasters, and community resilience team includes leading experts who evaluate the effectiveness of resilience interventions, including that of the 100 Resilient Cities initiative, the largest investment in city capacity building for climate resilience to date. Through our evaluation of the US Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Recovery program, we called attention to significant time lags between disaster response and housing recovery and provided solutions for improving the program’s speed and equity. Our experts also partner with frontline communities affected by climate change. They include communities in the Gulf Coast, where we assessed local capacity to receive climate migrants, and in Colorado, where our research informed a new tool to help local governments assess and reduce their hazard risk. 

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    • Senior Fellow
      Colead, Climate and Communities Practice Area
    • Principal Research Associate
      Colead, Climate and Communities Practice Area
    • Research Analyst
    • Principal Research Associate
    • Senior Research Fellow
    • Policy Program Manager
    • Research Associate
    • Associate Director
    • Principal Research Associate
      Research Director, Land Use Lab at Urban
    • Senior Policy Associate
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      Director, Economic Policy Initiatives
    • Research Associate
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    • Senior Fellow, Research
      Practice Area Lead: Housing as a Platform
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