Solution

A Connected and Prepared City

This solution addresses gaps in city connectedness and preparation in Berkeley, California, USA for local communities

Problem Description

We will engage and improve all community members to be resilient. Fundamental to preparedness is connectedness. A connected community enables everyone to take part in a coordinated response and recovery effort. A connected community ensures that Berkeley’s most vulnerable residents have vital lifelines before, during, and after a disaster.

Building Blocks

Story

"A Connected and Prepared City" is 1 of 6 goals of Berkeley’s Resilience Strategy. From natural disasters to wildfires, drought and flooding from climate change to racial inequity, Berkeley’s strategy recognizes that the city’s challenges and opportunities are complex and interconnected. At its core, Berkeley’s Resilience Strategy will focus on multi-stakeholder, multi-benefit problem solving grounded in stronger connections and engagement within the community and across the region. And this strategy fits into a larger focus throughout the Bay Area on building urban resilience to the various threats posed by urban growth, seismic threats, a changing climate, and rising seas. The goals and actions identified in this strategy are grounded in community input, members of our community contributed their insights and ideas through a combination of an online survey, public workshops, City Council meetings, City Commission meetings, and events.

Resources

  • Berkeley’s Resilience Strategy

    Berkeley’s Resilience Strategy – the first in the Bay Area – is designed to advance community preparedness for some of Berkeley’s most pressing physical, social, and economic challenges.

Organisations Involved

Contributed By

  • Dee Williams Ridley, City Manager, Berkeley Resilience Team
  • Timothy Burroughs, Chief Resilience Officer, Berkeley Resilience Team
  • Katie Van Dyke, City of Berkeley

Solution Stage

One of the 7 stages of an innovation. Learn more
STAGE SPECIALIST SKILLS REQUIRED EXAMPLE ACTIVITIES RISK LEVEL AND HANDLING FINANCE REQUIRED KINDS OF EVIDENCE GENERATED GOAL
Developing and testing3
Mix of design and implementation skills
  • Rapid prototyping
  • Service, product and process design
  • Co-design
  • User-design
  • Light-touch evaluation
  • Cost-benefit modelling
  • Randomised control trials
  • High failure rate should be an explicit expectation
  • Visible senior leadership essential
HIGH
  • Grants, convertible grants/loans
MEDIUM
A stronger case with cost and benefit projections developed through practical trials and experiments, involving potential users
Demonstration that the idea works, or evidence to support a reworking of the idea

Submitted By

Janae Futrell

Key Details

Activity