Office of Resilience Initiatives
One Austin: Our Resilience Framework for Action
One Austin: Our Resilience Framework for Action provides high-level summary of Austin’s key shocks and stresses, as well as an outline of our key issues and aspirations (as articulated by existing plans, city documents, and our Community Advisory Committee).
This framework lays out research questions which will guide the Office in the engagement with the broader public, City staff, private sector, non-profits, local agencies (including Travis County), elected officials, and more. Throughout this engagement process, we will uplift existing initiatives and work with partners to co-create new resilience actions to help strengthen individual Austinites, our neighborhoods, and our region.
- Read about One Austin - Our Resilience Framework for Action
- Lea sobre el plan Un solo Austin - Nuestro Marco de Acción Para la Resiliencia
As part of this framework, we conducted an information gathering survey about the investment-focused priorities for residents around four main topics:
- Housing
- Health
- Financial Success
- Climate Change
The findings from this anonymous survey have been incorporated into our city’s comprehensive resilience strategy and have helped guide our priorities to advance equity and resilience for all Austinites. Below is what the 4,650 participants identified as their resilience priorities for the city:
- District 1
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- District 2
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- District 3
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- District 4
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- District 5
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- District 6
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- District 7
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- District 8
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- District 9
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- District 10
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Austin Resilience Hub Network
A Resilience Hub Network is a series of community-focused physical facilities that offer day-to-day services and support the community before, during, and after a disaster. Resilience Hubs are intended to complement emergency response and operations, not replace them. While some Hubs can offer information, accessible bathrooms, and cell phone charging, others can shelter residents and provide food and water during an emergency.
Climate Resilience and Adaptation
Climate resilience is the capacity to prepare, respond, recover, and adapt to climate-related hazards. Climate projections indicate that Austin’s climate is getting more and more unpredictable, but we can expect more extreme weather. We will see an increase in the number of dry days per year, more frequent drought conditions, and more intense rainfall events.
Heat Resilience
Austin’s first Heat Resilience Playbook identifies neighborhood-based and citywide projects, programs, and policies that can be leveraged to combat extreme heat. This Playbook seeks to uplift existing City-led heat resilience efforts and outline a series of high-impact actions that the City of Austin can take to build heat resilience.
The City of Austin hopes to bring awareness to all residents around heat risks, develop a collaborative framework within City and community to build heat resilience, and establish a coordinated implementation of heat resilience efforts in Austin. The Resilience Office will move to track the actions described in this playbook and provide annual updates to all stakeholders via a tracking tool and dashboard that is in development.
Heat Mapping
The City of Austin has participated in a partner-led effort by Go Austin Vamos Austin and researchers from the University of Texas to utilize the learnings from the 2020 Heat Mapping Campaign and conduct authentic engagement in the most impacted communities to co-develop heat relief strategies. This, in complement with the City's pilot on cool pavements led by Public Works and UT researchers and heat emergency response led by HSEM, start setting a framework for heat management as we adapt and thrive in the face of climate change. See the below links for related heat resources:
- NASA Heat Map
- Heat Watch Data
- Urban Heat and Cool Space Design
- Heat Awareness Tips
- Community Heat Report (2022-2023)
Climate Resilience Action Plan for City Assets and Operations
The Climate Resilience Action Plan outlines key strategies for the City of Austin’s operations, asset management, and long-range planning in response to actual and anticipated climate change. It covers the services directly managed by City of Austin departments. This Action Plan describes key strategies for the City’s physical assets (energy, water, and telecommunications infrastructure, roads, and community facilities) to be implemented by the departments responsible for maintaining them. The Resilience Office has reconvened involved departments to assess progress on initiatives stated in the plan and identify funding opportunities to accelerate implementation.
