Achieving universal resilience to the impacts of climate change and other multi-hazard risks will not be possible with limited financial resources. The role of economics is increasingly recognized as being critical for advancing the resilience of households, businesses, and local governments, and also for the broader economic adaptation of entire regions.

Communication systems are integral to how our society functions, including broad reliance on mobile devices and the internet. The resilience of communications systems is one of the most critical aspects of community resilience, as nearly all other forms of infrastructure are dependent on clear and reliable communications.

Some communities are well on their way to achieving community resilience. In general, they incorporate continuity planning, risk management, and long-term community resilience into all of their goals and public safety plans.

Our nation's economy depends on robust transportation systems—over land, water, and air—and supply chains to move raw materials and goods across the country and around the world. Similarly, urban communities depend on interconnected transportation systems to facilitate distribution of food, energy, and other goods among homes and businesses, and to move people to their jobs and other activities as efficiently as possible.

Urban and community planners use terms such as commercial, residential, industrial, institutional, and park to describe how people use land. Zoning is a means by which communities seek to regulate land use. Zoning ordinances have significant impacts on land use by limiting what developers and landowners can do with their properties, ideally advancing public health, safety, and welfare in the process. Other local government tools for influencing land use include subdivision regulations, development incentives, and building codes.

Across the United States, local government agencies are typically responsible for the collection, treatment, and management of sewage and wastewater. For large cities and small towns alike, the main goal of managing wastewater is to ensure public health and the health of our waterways. In some cases, the goal extends to being able to use treated wastewater as part of a city’s water supply.