The city of Seattle, Washington has released its first Resilience Roadmap, which details goals and strategies for meeting short and long-term challenges. Over the last decade, Seattle has been the fastest-growing big city in America, growing from 608,660 people in 2010 to 730,400 in 2018. This rapid growth has brought unique challenges that the city addresses in the report – including housing, poverty, and racial inequities. More than 2,000 residents were engaged in identifying the city’s most critical challenges.
The plan lists 15 goals and 69 actions within four main areas:
- building opportunity – where everyone has access to the opportunities created by the strong economy. The city wishes to provide college to all Seattle youth, work to close the opportunity gap by addressing the root causes such as access to child care and preschool, connect people to jobs and training opportunities, and prepare young people for the future of work in Seattle;
- making Seattle more affordable for all – work to make Seattle an attractive and affordable place to live by creating more affordable housing, creating policies to reduce displacement, improving access to affordable public transportation, and continuing to connect residents with benefits;
- creating a city where everyone is welcome – celebrating and embracing diversity, focusing on correcting historical injustices in the criminal justice system, protecting the most vulnerable communities, standing up for workers and making sure the city serves as a model employer; and,
- fostering generational investments – passing on the city to future generations by preserving its civic treasures, continuing to meet the needs of the growing city, and investing in making a more vibrant city for generations to come. This includes protecting its natural environment by committing to becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
“We are looking at ways to give everyone in our city the tools they need to access the incredible opportunities available in our city. That’s what building a city of the future is all about,” said mayor Jenny Durkan in a statement.
