It is increasingly essential that in addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, colleges and universities must also ensure that decisions are smart in the face of expected and unexpected climate-related changes. Colleges and universities across the U.S. are already feeling the impacts of climate change, and over 100 institutions have signed the Presidents’ Climate or Resilience Commitment. This section provides guidance and resources for colleges and universities during each stage of the resilience planning process.

The resilience of any campus or community will be based on its own unique set of characteristics, future goals, existing capacity and strengths, and current and future vulnerabilities. Part of developing increased resilience is undertaking the social engagement, assessment, and planning process itself. The most successful campus resilience plans will be those that fully embrace the catalytic nature of resilience assessment and planning, and that incorporate diversity and inclusiveness throughout the process.

Resilience Planning Process

This diagram outlines the key steps in Second Nature’s framework for resilience planning. Second Nature’s framework encourages schools to not only assess and reduce vulnerability, but also to assess and enhance overall resilience and adaptive capacity. Campuses should go beyond managing extreme and potentially catastrophic events; they should proactively plan for preferable futures. Resilience building is an iterative process. While these steps appear to be linear, in reality campuses may be working on multiple steps simultaneously.