About
A new way of thinking and cocreating, driven by the power of collaboration and the networked strengths of an outstanding group of individuals and organisations working towards a common goal: the rapid transition to resilient development paths, by 2030, in all regions of the world
How it began
Peter Head
In 2004, after 34 years of my professional career as a civil engineer, I joined ARUP as their Global Planning Division lead. I moved from delivering major infrastructure projects to evolving ways to plan city-region systems, thinking I would be in a better position to influence change at scale.
I went on to lead a long list of sustainable development projects, including eco-cities in China. But time and again, I felt we were falling short of delivering the impact we could achieve because we could not demonstrate long-term economic benefit.
I kept quizzing world-leading experts, at events and conferences, on the reasons why nobody seemed to be addressing existing challenges and coming up with a sound plan, capable of delivering more inclusive resilient solutions at the systems level. Until one day at a conference in Hong Kong, when I had asked this again, someone in the audience said:
Why don’t you do something about it, Mr. Head?
It then became clear to me that the urgent transformational change required wasn’t the responsibility of a single nation or organisation. It wasn’t going to be achieved through the conventional siloed approaches. It needed new institutions for collaborative mobilisation. Shortly after, I left ARUP to embark on an extraordinary journey, alongside world-leading experts and organisations, to identify effective ways to deliver change at a speed and scale required. We have since come a long way, with a brilliant team, and are now ready to deploy demonstrators of the transition to sustainable, inclusive development paths in 200 city regions, globally. An ambitious five-year initiative backed by leading science and world leading networks.
We want to support anyone that wants “to do something about it”. We are here to facilitate collaborations and draw together existing initiatives and resources. We can provide access to new tools and support to mobilise billions of people and trillions in investment and finance.
We want to work with you to build on the strengths of city regions, including young leaders, to improve ecological and human health, as well as infrastructure productivity to steer towards the Global Goals and beyond. Together, we can create a better future for generations to come. A future built on equal opportunity, justice, dignity and shared prosperity for all.
#WeAreResilienceBrokers
What is Resilience Brokers? Is it an impact movement? A set of skills, behaviours and competencies? A set of tools? An organisation? A work programme? Indeed, we think it is “all of the above”.
It is a new way of thinking and cocreating driven by the power of collaboration and the combined strengths of a powerful network of remarkable individuals and world-leading organisations united by a common goal: the rapid transition to resilient development paths in all regions of the world by 2030.
The Resilience Brokers Programme champions a holistic approach to systems change that is driven by the power of collaboration, innovation and disruptive technology.
We are stepping into the “missing middle” to facilitate the global mobilisation necessary to deliver the Global Goals and trigger a rapid scale up of the transition to sustainable, inclusive development paths in city regions all over the world.
“We have a vision of “resilient communities able to withstand the emerging global challenges and provide a better future for generations to come. A future built on equal opportunity, justice, dignity and shared prosperity for all.
Our mission is to support a rapid transition to resilient development paths in all economies and regions to build a better future for people everywhere, leaving no one behind.”
Our core values
Collaboration
Embedded in the fabric of our organisation: “Stronger than the sum of its parts”. Resilience Brokers’ operations are driven by open collaboration at all levels, from board decisions all the way to how we work with partners on the ground, in all our target regions.
Integrity
We stand for transparency and professionalism as well as a solid commitment to consistent processes driven by equal opportunity. Our work is guided by an independent group of world leading experts–the Resilience Brokers Independent Programme Board which ensure that transparency, fairness and accountability are always at the heart of all our strategic decisions and operations.
Innovation
That is of the “positive-disruptive” kind. The innovative technology of resilience.io will be a key enabler of the transformative systems change we have set out to achieve. We will be introducing new ways of thinking, learning, partnering and collaborating. We will develop and provide access to innovative funding models and foster a culture that encourages innovation and embraces change at all levels. Rebuilding trust and a sense of team spirit throughout cities and city-regions.
Inclusivity
We are facilitators in a neutral space, supporting all actors. Fair and independent whilst observing transparent and inclusive codes of conduct–policies that ensure equal opportunity to all communities in all corners of the world. We build on the existing strengths of city regions, providing access to innovative tools and resources to empower organisations across all sectors and people from all walks of life to become actively involved in identifying the right solutions to their region-specific challenges.
The team
The Resilience Brokers team will coordinate the delivery of the Resilience Brokers Programme.
Operating within a governance structure of world leading expertise, we aim to foster a collaborative and emergent working environment to balance global reach with leading-edge practice.
We use collaborative, innovation as usual Alliance contracting as the preferred legal approach to empower this network to deliver the vision.
Management Team
Independent Programme Board
Chair
Eugenie Birch
University of Pennsylvania
Michael Cohen
New School New York
Rachel Kyte
Sustainable Energy for All, Fletcher School
Mike Rann
Independent
Advisory Board
Theresa Anderson
Social Infomatics
Michael Braungart
Cradle to cradle and chemistry
Ruth Deakin Crick
Systems learning and leadership
Herbert Girardet
Urbanist
Andy Goldring
Permaculture
Prof Laura Lee
Systems design
Marcus Lindner
Forestry
Clare Saunders
Materials resource recovery
John D Liu
Ecology and landscape remediation
Nick Mabey
Climate politics
Kerry Mashford
City energy systems
Bill McDonough
Cradle to cradle and built environment
David Miller
City governance for sustainability
Martin Palmer
Religions and cultural heritage
Pankaj Patel
Bio-energy
Michael Pawlyn
Architect biomimicry
Sanjay Prakash
Architect sustainable development
Prof Kristin Ragnarsdottir
Soil science and health
Robin Stott
Health
Michael Velders
Urban agriculture
Dr Kongjian Yu Fasla
Landscape, water and ecology systems
Rita Soni
Philanthropy
Geoff Smith
GEO data and mapping
Our journey so far
In September 2017, the Ecological Sequestration Trust (the Trust) convened a high-level meeting of the Resilience Brokers Programme team at the Rockefeller Bellagio Center in Italy. “Approaching Programme Implementation” was the third in a trilogy of workshops delivered by the Trust, and kindly hosted by the Rockefeller Foundation.
The first event, in March 2015, brought together world-leading experts to brainstorm innovative ways to effectively mobilise long-term investment in city regions. The resulting report was very well received at the UN Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa.
In the run up to Habitat III, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN SDSN) raised the need for a roadmap to support the implementation of the New Urban Agenda. To this effect, in March 2016, the Trust convened a second high-level meeting to cocreate Roadmap 2030: Financing and Implementing the Global Goals in Human Settlements and City Regions.
Roadmap 2030 is the consolidation of leading-edge research and practice from city experts, renowned scholars and world-leading specialists including Eugenie Birch, Aromar Revi and Jeffrey Sachs among many others. Roadmap 2030 was the first fully integrated action plan presented at Habitat III, capable of supporting the implementation of the New Urban Agenda. It continues to be very well received and widely adopted by leading organisations.
Following the introduction of Roadmap 2030 at Habitat III, a number of key actors stressed the urgent need to take things forward. In response to this call, the Trust assembled the Resilience Brokers in 2017, and convened a high-level meeting to identify the critical concepts and opportunities for collaborative and transformative action within Roadmap 2030.
The three-day workshop brought together delivery partners and key supporters–including Jeff Sachs and John Elkington–who cocreated a detailed delivery plan for the Resilience Brokers Programme.
