Resilient Cities in a Changing World AMPS | City, University of London Page 5 Resilience Ideology The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine adopted this definition of resilience: “the ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from, or more successfully adapt to actual or potential adverse events.”43 Resilience policy has been critiqued as a narrative of neo-liberal politics and policies, either as a pro-market extension of governance tools, or a denunciation of social control over underrepresented, often minority populations, depending on one’s outlook.44 Examination of institutional and community discourse revealed these perspectives. Institutional Discourse In recent years, the City of Miami has embraced the resilience ideology, Miami Forever. Miami’s induction into the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities program provided financial support and guidance to “build resilience to the physical, social, and economic challenges” faced by modern cities,45 led in 2019 to its first comprehensive strategy for mitigation, adaptation, and communication: Resilient305. Greater Miami employed Resilient305 to harmonize individual comprehensive strategies and action plans to build resilience within jurisdictions and throughout the region. Miami voters passed the $400 million Miami Forever bond to “build a stronger, more resilient future for Miami.”46 Miami collected input by consulting with experts on topics including housing affordability and climate gentrification and by holding workshops with residents. After the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Compact released the Regional Climate Action Plan 2.0, Miami released its own climate action plan. The City of Miami 21 Zoning Code was comprehensively updated following the formation of a task force in December 2019.47 The Miami-Dade Sea Level Rise Strategy48 advised a planning process related to hazard risk and vulnerability assessment that included public engagement. Miami, thirty-three other municipalities, and the unincorporated areas. Five adaptation approaches are recommended: 1) raising the land, 2) elevating structures, 3) building on high ground near transit, 4) expanding waterfront parks and canals to alleviate flooding, and 5) creating additional spaces for water in neighborhoods. Simultaneously, Miami endured an affordable housing crisis.49 A notable planning intervention was the updating of Miami 21 zoning code, including a mechanism, the Special Area Plan (SAP), with significance in the context of Little Haiti. The SAP allows a developer to master plan assembled parcels of nine acres or more to include mixed-use development.50 That is, SAPs, a form of Planned Unit Development (PUD), designate a new zone for a single landowner/single location exception to traditional zoning schemes in which residential, commercial, and industrial zones are segregated.51 PUDs provide an antidote to homogenous, sprawling communities52 and promote denser development and the conservation of natural environments, thus supporting environmental goals under the auspices of “New Urbanism.”53 However, the PUD “By Right” model provides a streamlined path to a building permit as it sidesteps public input,54 and New Urbanism draws criticism as presenting a façade of social improvement while entrenching the old social order.55 CG scholarship enfolds the concept of environmental and resilience gentrification, emphasizing how climate change impacts and responses may influence property markets and delineate urban geographies of social difference.56 Scholars warn of disparate outcomes for climate resilience strategies in comparing benefits to underserved populations and wealthier, white neighborhoods.57 Therefore, the role of policy and planning in displacement impacts should be identified, addressed, and reflected in CG Pathway Three: Resilience Investment and Intervention.
