Key West Mayor Attends National Resilient Cities Summit 

Mayor Teri Johnston recently attended the Resilient Cities Summit in Washington, D.C.  joining over 50 of the nation’s leading mayors, city officials, and experts in community development, finance, sustainability, and infrastructure.  A resilient city is characterized by its capacity to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from the impacts of disasters. 

Recognizing that one of the biggest challenges to cities is likely to result from climate change, Mayor Johnston and other attendees gathered at this summit to discuss the innovations in municipal resilience efforts and the rapidly evolving technology available to address risk reduction. One presentation explored how cities can use data and metrics to influence city policies and approaches to development and infrastructural investment that enhance resilience and reduce climate risk.  

The theme that emerged was the need to cultivate the resources and partnerships necessary between the public and private sectors to implement data-driven, resilient approaches to generate long-term benefits for all. Exacerbating the urgency of this work is the news that municipal rating agencies and private insurers are increasingly using local resilience metrics to manage risk when evaluating cities. 

Co-hosted by National League of Cities, Urban Land Institute, and US 

Presentations, the event was keynoted by Simone Brody, the Executive Director of the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ initiative “What Works Cities,” one of the largest-ever philanthropic efforts to enhance cities’ use of data and evidence.  

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