What is 'urban resilience'?
Urban resilience is the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses, and systems within a city to survive, adapt, and grow no matter what kinds of chronic stresses and acute shocks they experience.
How did Civic Design Lab come about?
Oakland's Civic Design Lab (CDL) is part of the initiative of '100 Resilient Cities' (100RC) which is pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation that created Oakland's first Chief Resilience Officer, Kiran Jain. The CDL is an in-house civic consultancy dedicated to helping Oakland and other cities become more resilient to the physical, social and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century.
Our inspiration
Oakland residents and businesses expect a more open, functional, and responsive government.
This requires rethinking old paradigms and breaking down traditional silos. We want to increase access to opportunity while building a more nimble and efficient government to support Oakland’s resilient future.
What drives our work
Our inspiration is a product of the cities around the world that are turning to the best practices from the private sector to help address changing needs of society. Furthermore, we find motivation in that the private sector is also looking to invest in government, which is a key operating system of society.
The new model for cities to develop solutions for public needs is by creating a privately funded incubator to match the insight and reach of city government with the flexibility and entrepreneurial spirit of the private sector.
Resilient Oakland Playbook
In 2016, the City of Oakland's Resilience Office released a document that outlines the City's partnership with 100 Resilient Cities and Oakland’s resiliency strategy for 2017-2019.
Resilient Oakland is a playbook that provides the opportunity for the City of Oakland to honor and scale existing achievements and rethink old paradigms, so that the city can increase access to opportunities for all Oaklanders and build a more vibrant infrastructure to support a thriving future.
The playbook is a strategy document developed to help the City of Oakland tackle systemic and structural challenges. The playbook outlines ways the city can collaborate together in order to help the city stay rooted, ensure equitable access to quality education, and develop good jobs, stable housing, and public safety.