100 RESILIENT CITY, Pittsburgh
Grant Ervin, Chief Resilience Officer
Executive Summary
Pittsburgh will be a resilient city when the entire community shares the same opportunities for prosperity, and when all residents are well cared for and prepared to face potential risks and adversities.
The Pittsburgh resilience strategy establishes a bold vision for the city, building on the successes in recent decades and a wealth of community assets, while directly confronting the complex challenges that the city continues to face. Resilience is a holistic approach to urban systems management that demonstrates interrelationships between sectors. The resilience strategy is intended as a guide for city plans and initiatives to achieve maximum community impact by addressing the root causes of systemic challenges. The strategy will help Pittsburgh realize the central purpose of a thriving city in the 21st century: to create conditions in which every resident can flourish in the face of challenges and every community can effectively respond and recover in any circumstance.
By fostering a regional atmosphere of collaborative problem solving and resource coordination, the strategy will build on collective efforts and establish a guide for activities that need coordination, acceleration, amplification and initiation. Pittsburgh will thrive in the 21st century as a city of engaged, empowered and coordinated neighbors.
04 Performance Work closely with neighbors and partners for improved planning and decision-making.
01
People
Empower all residents to contribute to diverse, thriving, inclusive, innovative, and supportive communities.
To make Pittsburgh truly a city for all, we must ensure that all residents enjoy equal access to resoruces and have the ability to leverage opportunity.
This includes the following key areas:
- Providing safe, affordable, and sustainable housing in new development redevelopment.
- Improving the physical and mental health and wellbeing of all Pittsburghers.
- Improving access to healthy, affordable food choices.
- Investing and supporting safe, inclusive, and cohesive neighborhoods for all Pittsburghers.
- Providing access for all to high-quality and engaging education to support wellbeing, informed citizens, and the workforce of the future.
- Providing access to emergency food, water, and shelter for all residents during times of catastrophe.
- Ensuring that Pittsburgh households are prepared to respond to emergency situations.
- Eliminating barriers to opportunity for education and employment for all Pittsburghers.
- Developing, attracting, and retaining the best and most diverse talent for Pittsburgh’s workforce.
02
Place
Use land and infrastructure to benefit all, increase cohesion, connectivity, public, ecological health, and protect against risks.
Our land and our infrastructure must benefit all residents, and be prepared for both current and future risks. To serve this goal, this plan includes the following key initiatives:
- Connecting all communities to economic opportunity and green spaces with safe, reliable, and convenient multi-modal transportation.
- Maintaining and improving existing physical infrastructure for the long term.
- Supporting a mix of uses in neighborhoods and communities that serve multiple needs.
- Repurposing underutilized land and building stock in vulnerable places for community benefit.
- Ensuring that each community in Pittsburgh is connected to nature.
- Maintaining or creating attractive and accessible public space throughout the city for all to use and to serve as refuge in times of crisis.
- Establishing a reliable, modern communications infrastructure that is accessible to all.
- Improving reliability and minimizing the risk from commercial and industrial transport throughout the region.
- Ensuring reliable performance of critical infrastructure during disaster.
03
Planet
Achieve long-term environmental health through wise stewardship, improved use of our resources, and a reduced carbon footprint.
Famously located at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahella Rivers and their tributaries, Pittsburgh is endowed with a wealth of natural resources. Pittsburgh's long-term future requires a long-term vision for environmental sustainability, including the following actions:
- Minimizing stormwater, wastewater, and sewer issues to reduce flooding and improve the quality and accessibility of our water resources.
- Developing a resilient energy portfolio through diversified sources and local generation.
- Making efficient use of water, energy, and waste management resources citywide.
- Maintaining and improving natural infrastructure assets.
- Designing infrastructure to minimize environmental and public health impacts.
04
Performance
Work closely with neighbors and partners for improved planning and decision-making.
The City of Pittsburgh cannot effect meaningful change alone. Working with other partners across government and nongovernmental sectors, we can innovate, empower Pittsburgh citizens, and make smarter decisions for the city's long-term future. These actions include the following areas:
- Promoting innovation and incubation of new technologies and businesses.
- Educating, engaging, and empowering residents to take part in civic decision-making.
- Aligning and dedicating funding and resources to support collaboration around shared goals.
- Integrating data and building analytic capabilities across organizations and government entities to facilitate effective collaboration.