What is community resilience and why does it matter?

We live in an era of uncertainty. Both human-caused and natural disasters are increasing in frequency, and the risks involved—the probability of their occurrence, and the scope of their potential impact—are not evenly distributed. Where a community is on the map, what their current infrastructure looks like, how many resources they have at hand, and more will determine how prepared they are for the unknown.

How can communities better prepare themselves? To find out, we can look to the characteristics of resilient communities and apply their strategies to build community resilience elsewhere. Especially with the right tools, communities everywhere have a shot at mitigating and adapting to changes coming in the future.

Why is community resilience important?

Community resilience is the ability of a community to recover from a disaster or persist sustainably in the face of a new, ongoing hardship. Disasters and other threats are becoming increasingly common, especially those caused by climate change, increasing globalization, and urbanization. And as communities themselves continue to grow, both in size and complexity, the risk to those communities increases.

In fact, experts estimate that 85% of the world’s population have already begun to notice changes to temperature and precipitation due to climate change. And as we start to see negative impacts, it’s increasingly clear that not all populations are affected equally.

Black and African American communities are already 40% more likely to live in areas predicted to see the highest increases in heat-related deaths—a figure that rises to 59% more likely under 4°C (7.2°F) of warming, according to a 2021 EPA report. This means that Black communities are at a structural and environmental disadvantage when it comes to climate change. How do we mitigate these consequences?

When we take community resiliency beyond disaster relief, we can begin to address the consequences of structural disadvantages. Boosting resilience means strengthening communities and enhancing their health in a way that will reduce the negative impacts of challenges both present and future.

How is community resilience related to other types of resiliency?

Traditional models of resiliency mostly focus on disaster-preparedness activities. These might include efforts like a municipality creating continuity of operations plans for when a flash flood knocks out power in the district. Local government or nonprofit organizations might compile and prepare to distribute disaster kits and other resources to the public after a hurricane hits.

While these are all important facets of disaster preparedness, community resilience needs to go even further. Improving community resilience benefits disaster planners, government agencies, business, and community members alike—making their preparedness activities both easier to implement and less likely to be needed. Community resilience is about promoting the many systems that contribute to a community’s overall health. This approach builds on disaster preparedness by adding features like social connectedness and everyday health and community systems.

Community resilience also has a factor in climate resilience. Like community resiliency, climate resilience is often associated with acute disasters. However, both of these types of resilience benefit from long-term planning that considers chronic events in tandem with disasters. Long-term planning for community and climate resilience should reckon with the overall needs of a community, including access to public health systems.

Of course, these public health systems must be strong and sustainable to truly be supportive. The goal of any health system should be to prevent the spread of disease, morbidity, and mortality, and that’s even more essential in a resiliency framework. The relevance of health systems is more obvious when a disaster is a burden on the healthcare system (like during a pandemic). However, healthy systems beget healthy populations, which strengthens communities.

Likewise, a strong health system will be able to rise to meet new, unanticipated community needs, and will be better suited to mobilize people and equipment in response to emergencies. To truly integrate into the community, the health systems must communicate effectively with the local populations, and understand their specific needs, culture, literacy, and traditions.

Characteristics of a resilient community

Disaster preparedness plans and strong, community-focused health systems aren’t the only characteristics of a resilient community. There are a number of key traits that determine the strength of a community in face of hardships.

One of the most important characteristics of a resilient community is social connectedness. When community members consider themselves a part of a greater whole, they participate in and feel valued by their community. This fosters a sense of togetherness, relatability, and connection that can be essential in a time of need.

It’s important for communities to be supported both emotionally and tangibly, like having contacts and connections to needed resources. In strong communities, this connectedness can and should come both in the form of interpersonal relationships and a familiarity and trust with local organizations. Local organizations foster a sense of social connectedness through expanded access to resources like food banks. When a community has greater access to resources they need, resiliency grows. A community with robust social networks and local systems is prepared to immediately take action after a disaster. Strong health systems, local governments, and other organizations support recovery with prepared resources, like clean water and access to healthcare, available for those affected by adversity. This means that these health systems act preventatively to reduce the negative consequences of hardships.

These characteristics do not need to be innate to a community; they can be encouraged and improved. Building community resilience requires:

Improving social connectedness
Increasing government integration and involvement in planning, response, and recovery
Ensuring effective risk communication to the population and especially to at-risk groups
Bolstering the physical and mental health of the population
Building the social and economic health of the community

Social connectedness is integral to a community’s ability to gather resources, communicate with local residents, address threats, and recover from adversity. This social connectedness helps communities expand access to resources for all community members, including the most at-risk.

Strategies to build resilient communities

Fostering the characteristics of a resilient community requires targeted effort, and there are many approaches that can be taken to work toward this goal. Strategies for building resilience include:

Strengthening and improving public access to health and social services. Strong public health systems support health resilience during disasters. When people are injured, sick, or need food and water after a disaster – access to care and resources is critical. Additionally, if local community members support and trust their local public health systems, they will be empowered to listen to their guidance during a disaster, which can mitigate negative outcomes. For example, if a mayor has built trust with the community, evacuation plans are more likely to be followed in the event of a flood.
Promoting health alongside disaster preparedness. Public health education and interventions can help a community recover from major disasters, as well as face ordinary challenges. Communities with healthy members are more likely to persist in the face of new challenges. Conversely, an unhealthy community is more likely to be heavily impacted by a disaster event: Consider that a rural community has less access to healthcare, as there are fewer doctors practicing in rural areas. When a rural community is hit by a pandemic, they’re more likely to be heavily impacted, as their healthcare system is more quickly overburdened.
Expanding communication and collaboration across the community. In addition to traditional community services (like public health, healthcare systems, and emergency management), more networks that involve the broader community (like businesses, community organizations, or social services) must be built. Some examples of these networks include the selection of new electric vehicle (EV) charging sites that would maximize utilization and reduce carbon footprints; a telecommunications company providing broadband access to underserved areas; or a planning firm analyzing demographic and health factors when determining the new location of a hospital. When the broader community supports initiatives that aid the community, the community’s resilience grows.
Engage at-risk individuals and the programs that serve them. A community should engage with vulnerable individuals to provide them with strategies to protect their health. Assistance programs can even help at-risk individuals become more resilient in the face of disaster. Additionally, providing essential aid to at-risk individuals improves public health and the economy, which bolsters community resilience.
Build social connectedness. People often feel more empowered to help each other after a major disaster, especially if the community feels involved. A close-knit community will want to help their neighbors reunite with loved ones after a hurricane, help repair damaged homes and businesses, or ensure that they have access to fresh water.

There are numerous avenues for building community resilience. What works best or is most urgently needed will differ depending on each community’s unique needs, situation, culture, as well as consideration of which threats are most likely to impact them.

Building resilience to adversity

Community resilience is increasingly important as climate change, urbanization, and globalization increase the threats our communities face. The more resilient the community, the better their ability to recover. Disaster response and preparedness is just one facet of resilience—a strong community will also have robust health systems and strong social connections that ensure people are mentally, physically, and emotionally able to endure and recover. With the right strategies, the resiliency can be improved in any community.