City of Durango’s Resiliency Framework
The Takeaways
A successful collaboration includes representation across departments and staff levels. It also engages organizations outside of municipal services and includes the local county and regional communities.
Infuse the resiliency framework after it is completed (into plans, decision making, etc.) - keep the team together and the momentum going, this will begin to embed a "resilience mindset" across organizations.
Many of the actions identified in the framework were inadvertently accelerated by COVID. Having identified them as a group helped Durango respond more quickly when the time came. For example:
"Innovative, Nimble and Open" - being flexible to uncertainty.
"Informed, Empowered and Collaborative Community" - rethinking existing tools to allow multiple different ways for the community to engage with the city.
The Case Study
The City of Durango worked with the Colorado Resiliency Office (CRO) in 2019 to build a resilience framework that gave them a leg up when the pandemic and wildfires hit in 2020. Specially, the framework development process strengthened relationships between city departments and seeded a ‘resilience mindset’ for thinking Durango’s key challenges and the potential for interacting shocks and stresses. A resilience team came together that included a cross-section of departments and staffing seniority levels which opened up communication channels and a variety of perspectives. The city’s sustainability coordinator also participated in a parallel CRO resilience framework process at the county level. La Plata County and communities across the region came together to identify common resiliency needs and opportunities for collaboration. This opportunity for connection may have allowed the communities to hit the ground running when a disaster presented itself.
Image Description: A flow chart of the process describing how Durango’s Resilience Framework was developed. A line of 4 circles in a horizontal row in shades of teal that grow lighter with the final circle being purple with black arrows that show the direction of the flow in between all pointing to the next circle to the right. First circle says “Resiliency Framework Workshop 1” and below says “DOLA-led Resiliency Framework Workshop Aug 2019.” Second circle says “Vision and Strategy Development” and below says “City Resilience Team definition of framework vision and strategies Sept 2019.” Third circle says “Resilience Framework Workshop 2” and below says “DOLA-led Resilience Action Planning Workshop Oct 2019.” Fourth Circle says “Action and Planning and Prioritization” and below says “City Resilience Team action ideation and prioritization Nov - Dec 2019.” Last circle says “Framework Development” and below says “City Resilience Team action ideation and prioritization Nov - Dec 2019.”
Looking back, the team suggests that communities ensure they involve as many departments in resilience planning as possible. For example, Durango’s resilience team would have benefitted from involving Parks and Recreation staff in the framework process to provide insight on the work they were already doing around resilience in terms of natural lands preservation and wildfire mitigation. Durango’s resiliency planning was intended to be a rapid, internal framework rather than a full-blown planning process, therefore, it suited their needs well at the time. A full planning process with extensive internal and external engagement is the right choice in many cases. However, for some communities, a facilitation of a framework process that is quick and relatively low burden for those involved, can help to create a document that can be easily revisited and updated.
Another success was the way the resilience team developed their framework. Not only did the plan include big ideas, but it also included specific actions. Once the plan was complete, the more specific the actions were, the more likely they were going to be implemented. The framework was not built to sit on a shelf. The framework’s ideas and actions are now being referenced in the City’s Municipal Sustainability Action Plan. Utilizing the plan keeps resiliency at the forefront and will provide context to ongoing resilience action and city processes such as capital project prioritization.
The resilience team recognizes the integral process of reflecting on work that was done and finding ways for improvement moving forward. For example, they have implemented staff surveys that will help drive change and they plan to update the framework when new policies, plans, and programs are being implemented. Finally, Durango believes that celebrating success in the implementation of any plan is important to maintaining momentum, demonstrating the value of the plan, and catalyzing further action. In resilience work particularly, the "results" are often not easily measurable. Durango has recently been selected to participate in the USGBC LEED for Cities Local Government Leadership Program and they are hopeful that designation through the LEED for Cities framework will help them better celebrate successes and tell stories about what they have done as an organization and a community in terms of sustainability and resilience.
Want more information?
Visit the City’s sustainability webpage.
Refer to their resiliency framework.