RESILIENCY

Industry Statement on Resilience

Representing nearly 1.7 million professionals, America’s design and construction industry is one of the largest sectors of this nation’s economy, generating over $1 trillion in GDP. We are responsible for the design, construction, and operation of the buildings, homes, transportation systems, landscapes, and public spaces that enrich our lives and sustain America’s global leadership.

We recognize that natural and manmade hazards pose an increasing threat to the safety of the public and the vitality of our nation. Aging infrastructure and disasters result in unacceptable losses of life and property, straining our nation’s ability to respond in a timely and efficient manner. We further recognize that contemporary planning, building materials, and design, construction and operational techniques can make our communities more resilient to these threats. Drawing upon the work of the National Research Council, we define resilience as the ability to prepare and plan for, absorb, recover from, and more successfully adapt to adverse events.

As the leaders of this industry, we are committed to significantly improving the resilience of our nation’s buildings, infrastructure, public spaces, and communities.

  • We research materials, design techniques, construction procedures, and other methods to improve the standard of practice.
  • We educate our profession through continuous learning. Through coordinated and continuous learning, design, construction and operations professionals can provide their clients with proven best practices and utilize the latest systems and materials to create more resilient communities.
  • We advocate at all levels of government for effective land use policies, modern building codes, and smarter investment in the construction and maintenance of our nation’s buildings and infrastructure.
  • We respond alongside professional emergency managers when disasters do occur. Industry experts routinely work in partnership with government officials to survey damage, coordinate recovery efforts, and help communities rebuild better and stronger than before.
  • We plan for the future, proactively envisioning and pursuing a more sustainable built environment.

The promotion of resilience will improve the economic competitiveness of the United States. Disasters are expensive to respond to, but much of the destruction can be prevented with cost-effective mitigation features and advanced planning. Our practices must continue to change, and we commit ourselves to the creation of new practices in order to break the cycle of destruction and rebuilding. Together, our organizations are committed to build a more resilient future.