Resilience Planning

Climate change is further challenging our state, acting as a force multiplier that exacerbates the impacts of shocks and stressors. This tool will describe different ways that communities can incorporate resiliency into their land-use plans and policies, and link to additional resiliency tools and resources.

What is Resiliency?

Resiliency is defined by the state of Colorado as “The ability of communities to rebound, positively adapt to, or thrive amidst changing conditions or challenges — including human-caused and natural disasters — and to maintain quality of life, healthy growth, durable systems, economic vitality, and conservation of resources for present and future generations.” [Link to Colorado House Bill 18-1394]

Resiliency planning is a tool to empower Colorado and its communities to successfully meet these challenges. Resiliency planning means looking holistically at the shocks and stresses that your community faces and working to implement creative solutions that will allow your community to adapt and thrive, even under challenging conditions. 

Exercise and Health: A Useful Metaphor for Resilience Planning

Community members may ask, “what does resiliency mean to me?” Resilience scholars like Thomas Campanella and David Godschalk have used the metaphor of exercise and health to illustrate the concept. Like resiliency, there is no one “right” approach to exercise, but many possibilities to match different people and their circumstance. Exercise is an effective tool for managing chronic health stressors, like obesity and high blood pressure, and also for preventing health shocks like heart attacks. A person who exercises will be better prepared to manage unexpected health challenges if, and when, they occur. Lastly, exercise is an ongoing process rather than a one-off activity. Keeping fit through exercise requires a long-term commitment. 

Just like exercise improves overall health and the management of crises, planning for resilience helps communities to prepare for shocks and stressors, and better manage unexpected events. Communities also need to see resilience as a value and mindset, rather than a one-off plan. That means that they will engage in planning for resilience on an ongoing and active basis, just like a healthy individual exercises regularly. For example, wildfire fuel mitigation around and within a community is a process that can help the homeowners overcome the unexpected shock of a wildfire. 

How does resiliency planning differ from traditional approaches to disaster preparedness? Communities that plan for resilience strive to:

• Think holistically – resilient communities weave considerations of shocks and stresses across multiple sectors throughout all of their plans, policies and decision-making, rather than a single plan or department. The Colorado Resiliency Framework, for example, examines risks and vulnerabilities to shocks and stresses across six interconnected sectors: Community, Economic, Health and Social, Housing, Infrastructure, and Watersheds and Natural Resources.

• Collaborate – collaboration and partnership are essential for thriving in the face of complex social and environmental challenges. Local governments that plan for resilience encourage collaboration with diverse stakeholders in their communities to identify equitable solutions, and seek partnership and support from outside governments, agencies and organizations. Thorough and robust community engagement can help ensure that local governments are reaching socially vulnerable populations in their collaboration efforts.

• Embrace uncertainty – resilient communities proactively understand and plan for the shocks and stressors they will likely face. They also recognize that it is important to remain flexible and adaptable to uncertain future conditions, like the effects of climate change. 

• Connect the dots – communities that plan for resilience consider the connections between everyday societal stressors and vulnerability to shocks like disasters.  

The Colorado Resiliency Office

The Colorado Resiliency Office (CRO), part of the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) Division of Local Government, is a key partner and resource to help communities prepare for, respond to, and recover from disruptions and ongoing stressors. The office coordinates and collaborates across State agencies and with local, State, federal, private, and non-governmental partners to ensure that Colorado communities are resilient to, and can build back better after, disruptive events. The support the CRO provides includes helping communities understand vulnerabilities and risks, setting priorities, leveraging resources, providing transparent and clear communication, fostering community partnerships, and delivering measurable results.

The Terminology of Resilience Planning

As your community plans for resiliency, it is important that everyone understands a few key terms:

• Vulnerability: the predisposition to be adversely affected by hazards.

• Shock: an intense, acute event that can disrupt communities

• Stressor: an underlying long-term condition that can negatively impact a community’s environmental, social, and economic health

• Exposure: the presence of community assets (be that human life, infrastructure, ecosystems, or other assets) within an area that could be adversely affected by a hazard event.

• Sensitivity: the degree to which community systems, assets, or resources could be affected by hazards. Adaptive Capacity: The ability of a human or natural system to adjust to the hazard, take advantage of new opportunities resulting from the hazard, and/or coping with the change from the hazard