Futureproofing our cities : urban resilience, at what cost?

Three basic options have been articulated in how to confront climate change: mitigate, adapt, suffer. For approximately the last two decades, the emphasis has been on "sustainability," which principally has a mitigation focus. The emerging scientific consensus is that the window to avoid unmanageable climate impacts is rapidly closing; therefore, additional attention must be paid to the adaptation option.

"Resilience," as a concept and term, has received a great deal of attention since Superstorm Sandy pounded the New York metropolitan area. Indeed, months after the event large tracts of area still look like disaster zones and thousands of people continue without energy or water and, in many cases, homes. Resilience addresses both mitigation and adaptability, while at the same time addressing minimization of, or relief from, economic and social suffering. As the functional realities of the weather impacts of accelerating climate change become more apparent, resilience increasingly seems to be an appropriate replacement concept for sustainability as an organizing principle for urban planning and growth.

This panel discussion focuses on the economic challenges, opportunities, and pathways to creating urban regions that are more resilient physically, socially, and economically. In a dynamic and multifaceted way, diverse experts address the key economic problems, discuss potential economic solutions, and the potential pathways that can bridge these problems and solutions. Using the New York metropolitan region as a case study, the goal of this high-level meeting is to focus on the costs and benefits of remaking our urban built and natural environments into areas that can effectively confront a future of a "new normal."