Question

1.Define resilience, and explain how resilience initiatives attempt to respond to the social and environmental changes in the Anthropocene.

2.Explain how debates over how to build resilience in Greater Miami are a contestation over what a future Miami might become. Consider which actors in local politics are able to set resilience agendas and shape how the city government uses its resources to respond to the social and environmental changes in the Anthropocene.

Answer 1

What is resilience?

Resilience is typically defined as the capacity to recover from difficult life events.

“It’s your ability to withstand adversity and bounce back and grow despite life’s downturns,” says Amit Sood, MD, the executive director of the Global Center for Resiliency and Well-Being and creator of Mayo Clinic Resilient Mind in Rochester, Minnesota.

Resilience is not a trampoline, where you’re down one moment and up the next. It’s more like climbing a mountain without a trail map. It takes time, strength, and help from people around you, and you’ll likely experience setbacks along the way. But eventually, you reach the top and look back at how far you’ve come.

How resilience initiatives attempt to respond to the social and environmental changes in the Anthropocene?

Indigenous peoples globally have high exposure to environmental change and are often considered an “at-risk” population, although there is growing evidence of their resilience. In this Perspective, we examine the common factors affecting this resilience by illustrating how the interconnected roles of place, agency, institutions, collective action, Indigenous knowledge, and learning help Indigenous peoples to cope and adapt to environmental change. Relationships with place are particularly important in that they provide a foundation for belief systems, identity, knowledge, and livelihood practices that underlie mechanisms through which environmental change is experienced, understood, resisted, and responded to. Many Indigenous peoples also face significant vulnerabilities, whereby place dislocation due to land dispossession, resettlement, and landscape fragmentation has challenged the persistence of Indigenous knowledge systems and undermined Indigenous institutions, compounded by the speed of environmental change. These vulnerabilities are closely linked to colonization, globalization, and development patterns, underlying the importance of tackling these pervasive structural challenges.

Explain how debates over how to build resilience in Greater Miami are a contestation over what a future Miami might become. Consider which actors in local politics are able to set resilience agendas and shape how the city government uses its resources to respond to the social and environmental changes in the Anthropocene?

Resilient305 Strategy Actions - The People, Places and Pathways That Make The 305 Home.
More than 50 actions have been identified, developed and organized for the Resilient305 Strategy into three overarching goal areas: Places, People, and Pathways.

Many actions are already being targeted through existing initiatives, including the Miami-Dade County SMART Plan, the City of Miami Forever Bond and Miami Beach Rising Above. To achieve true resilience, the Resilent305 Strategy goes beyond the initiatives of the public sector to include businesses, community organizations and individuals at large.

   PLACES – Addresses location-based challenges by enhancing climate resilience through design and planning; creating, connecting and improving mobility and housing options; and safeguarding our ecosystems. Actions in this goal area focus on building healthy coral reefs and ecosystems, reducing storm surge vulnerability, developing mobility hubs and connectivity, and redeveloping public housing to make it more resilient, among others.

   PEOPLE - Aims to improve the lives of citizens every day, rain or shine, by supporting job and wealth creation; addressing specific health needs for the most vulnerable; and preparing and empowering neighborhoods and networks to anticipate and respond to disruptions, both large and small. The strategy will look at ensuring representation in the census, breaking the cycle of youth violence, increasing resilience through volunteer emergency training and engaging communities through public art to help enhance the region’s social sustainability.

   PATHWAYS – Seeks to bring together governments, businesses, community organizations, and educational institutions by setting common goals and committing to actions, such as utilizing a pre-planning for post-disaster toolkit, creating an actionable science advisory panel (ASAP), and utilizing the City Water Resilience Approach to improve coordination and resilience on water issues.

“In all of my years of public service, this is the boldest commitment I have seen. I represent residents on a barrier island, and we have been aggressively confronting the climate change challenge head on," said City of Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber. "I fully embrace implementing the strong actions in the Resilient305 strategy. I am confident that our shared resilience challenges are surmountable - even more so when we address them together, leveraging our strengths, and joining forces across city borders.”

Implementing the Resilient305 Strategy
GM&B recognizes that making the Resilient305 Strategy come to life will require dedicated effort from the PIVOT team, which will oversee the prioritization, implementation, and monitoring of progress on this 20-year vision. PIVOT will begin with leadership from Miami-Dade County, the City of Miami, the City of Miami Beach and The Miami Foundation and will expand quickly to include all stakeholders and municipalities.