Metro-area Guadalajara and Colima have joined the list of cities in the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities (100RC) program that is dedicated to helping urban centers around the world become more resilient to the physical, social and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century.
Jalisco Governor Aristoteles Sandoval flew to Washington D.C. for the announcement of the incorporation of the final 37 cities in the global initiative. The new partners include cities as diverse as Nairobi, Jakarta, Buenos Aires, Tel Aviv, Belfast, Cape Town and Panama City, as well as eight U.S. cities.
Mexico City and Ciudad Juarez had previously been selected.
The 100RC program empowers cities to design, implement and manage proactive solutions to the challenges posed by urbanization, globalization and climate change, including short-term shocks such as natural disasters, and long-term stresses like sea level rise and cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
As a member of the 100RC Network, Guadalajara will receive grant funding to hire a Chief Resilience Officer, a position within municipal government to work directly with city leaders in developing a city “Resilience Strategy” to provide more integrated solutions to the challenges the urban area faces.
The 100RC Network provides member cities with around US$200 million in direct support, to provide critical tools, services and technical assistance from organizations such as Swiss Re, Microsoft, the World Bank and the International Rescue Committee.
Cities in the 100RC Network are connected through a peer-to-peer network in the hope this will lead to groundbreaking cross-city partnerships and solutions.
Cities are selected based on their commitment to building resilience in the face of the complex challenges of the 21st century – along with strong mayoral leadership and commitment to the initiative.
According to the 100RC website, a panel of expert judges reviewed over 1,000 applications from prospective cities, looking for “innovative mayors, a recent catalyst for change, a history of building partnerships, and an ability to work with a Wide range of stakeholders.” At least 300 cities were rejected during the third and final round of appraisals, according to an article this week in the Guardian newspaper.
Michael Berkowitz, the president of the 100RC program, told the Guardian that the program has long, rather than short-term goals. “The ultimate change we’re trying to see in cities – more cohesive communities, better infrastructure, more integrated planning, better mobility – these are things that happen over a generation, not just a couple of years.”
Speaking at Wednesday’s announcement, Berkowitz said the real work lies ahead. “Our threshold of success will not solely be progress within our network of 100 cities. Instead, it will be the ability for solutions to scale, and for all cities around the world to build off of the innovative work leveraged by these 100 Resilient Cities through implementation of their Resilience Strategies.”