Enlightened. Just. Integrated.

Welcome to the Chennai Resilience Centre, a unit of Care Earth Trust, supported by the Adrienne Arsht – Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center and the Resilient Cities Network.

ABOUT US

Who we are and what we do.

What is City Resilience?

City Resilience is the capacity of individuals, communities, institutions, businesses, and systems within a city to survive, adapt, and grow no matter what kinds of chronic stresses and acute shocks they experience. Resilience is about making cities better, both in the short and long term, for everyone.

Chennai Resilience Centre

100 Resilient Cities – Pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation (100RC) started out as a network of 100 global cities integrating resilience thinking in their development efforts.

In December 2014, Chennai joined the 100RC initiative. As a member city, Chennai received the financial and logistical support to establish an innovative new position, a Chief Resilience Officer (CRO), to lead the city’s resilience efforts in collaboration with the city government, citizens and various other stakeholder groups.

Resilient Chennai was granted expert support to establish a robust Resilience Strategy; access to solutions, service providers and partners from across public, private and non-profit sectors; and membership to a global network of member cities to learn from and collaborate.

In July 2017, R Krishna Mohan was appointed as Chennai’s Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) and led Chennai in the strategy phase of its resilience journey which involved engaging stakeholders and understanding the city’s resilience related strengths and challenges to frame actions to build city resilience to existing and future shocks and stresses.

Chennai’s Resilience Strategy, developed with strategy partners Okapi Advisory, was released by the Greater Chennai Corporation in June 2019.

Early in 2021, the Adrienne Arsht – Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Centre (AARFRC), together with Resilient Cities Network (RCN – formerly 100RC), helped fund and institutionalize the Chennai Resilience Centre as a unit Care Earth Trust.

The Chennai Resilience Centre’s mandate is to research, develop and implement resilience building projects for the city of Chennai.

Care Earth Trust

Care Earth strives to provide scientific services in the area of biodiversity by assessing the human impact on the environment as well as strategising methods to improve it. We have been involved in implementing training and capacity building initiatives in the area of biodiversity conservation and have delved deep into developing and sharing resource based material that push the conservation agenda forward.

Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center

The Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center (AARFRC) is a think tank established in Washington DC in April 2019. It’s mission is to reach one billion people with resilience solutions to climate change, migration, and security challenges by 2030. They are focusing efforts on individuals, communities, and a broad spectrum of governments and institutions to help them, and their constituencies and stakeholders, better prepare for, navigate, and recover from shocks and stresses, in order to help build a more resilient world.

AARFRC is a member of the Atlantic Council, a nonpartisan organization that galvanizes US leadership and engagement in the world, in partnership with allies and partners, to shape solutions to global challenges.

Resilient Cities Network

The new Resilient Cities Network (RCN) emerges from the 100 Resilient Cities Program with a unique reach, strength and legacy to understand and support the challenges of the ever-growing urban society. RCN is the city-led organization that will drive urban resilience action to protect vulnerable communities from climate change and other physical, social and economic urban adversities and challenges. With support from The Rockefeller Foundation and other funding partners, the Network aims to continue supporting cities and their Chief Resilience Officers in future-proofing their communities and critical infrastructure.

CHENNAI CITY RESILIENCE STRATEGY 2019

Resilient Chennai Vision

Our city leaders and citizens will think holistically, ecologically and with foresight, as well as act proactively and smartly to manage and respond to risks and vulnerabilities. We will leverage the linkages between urban, socio-cultural, economic and environmental development. We will be sensitive to the needs of those who are disadvantaged and will think and plan ahead of time to build a cleaner, greener, more liveable and inclusive city.

Enlightened: A city that revives our deep historical relationship with water and expands into our water basins and peri-urban areas by protecting and preserving our water bodies as an integral and priceless part of our urban fabric; where citizens take ownership and engage with civic issues to create public spaces that bring joy and pride, strengthening the city’s vibrant cultural identity; a city that cultivates champions of change in schools and colleges by teaching our youth to respect the natural world, embrace diversity, live sustainably and believe that their voices can be heard and do matter.

Just: A city that embraces its vulnerable peoples and treats them as key stakeholders in resilience building, who contribute and benefit from resilience strategies; where participatory planning protects multiple interests and visions; a city designed to be equitable and inclusive, ensuring that the needs of all sections of society are met.

Integrated: A city whose leadership and governance have a ‘big picture’ view to make better informed, more efficient decisions; where learnings are institutionalized and healthy engagement between and within stakeholder groups results in streamlined, integrated systems leading to improved outcomes with greater impact.

Inclusive, environmentally sustainable, economically viable, and culturally vibrant. This is OUR Chennai… Enlightened. Just. Integrated.