Center for Resilient Design

In 2015, the Center for Resilient Design convened the first New Jersey Urban Mayors Academy on Resilience. Mayors from six New Jersey cities attended a 2-day retreat that developed local resiliency strategies fine-tuned to the specific needs of each community. The Academy is a joint effort of NJIT, the John S. Watson Institute for Public Policy of Thomas Edison State College, and the Regional Plan Association. Modeled on similar – and highly successful – regional and urban design institutes, the Academy invited mayors and a resource team of technical, design, and planning professionals to develop local resiliency strategies that synthesize the best available approaches with specific local conditions, costs, and benefits. The resulting strategies were summarized for each participating mayor and released publicly to serve as models for other urban municipalities throughout the state and beyond. Participating New Jersey municipalities included Bridgeton, Orange, Perth Amboy, Trenton, and Vineland.