Salem residents invest own money in new subdivision

As flood risk and severity increase, homeowners are lifting their houses to avoid catastrophic damage. Hydraulic lifts raise the structure several feet up in the air, though it’s an expensive process, costing $75 to $200 per square foot. For some eligible families, low-interest disaster loans from FEMA are available to cover 75-100% of the costs. The organization has already raised nearly 22,000 homes nationwide since 1999.

When severe flooding hit Kentucky, the bakery at the Hemphill Community Center continued to pay its workers to do community support and flood recovery work instead of their typical jobs. The bakery is a recovery-to-work program for people facing addiction, so keeping their jobs and a sense of community helps them continue recovering despite stressful circumstances.

Refugio, Texas was ravaged by Hurricane Harvey, leaving behind damaged houses, schools and businesses and people who can not afford to rebuild their lives. However, this town has used its community and found strength in their love of football and their support of one another to keep moving forward.

When disasters, such as hurricanes and earthquakes, strike the recovery can be very expensive. Insurance has been found to be key in order to quickly get funds to help relief efforts.

Urban decay has left a "physical legacy" of past economic hardships in cities. Many cities across the world are now implementing programs that promote public art that rebuilds and reimagines neighborhoods.

By looking at the ways plants and animals adapt to their environment, architects are using “the emerging science of biomimicry” to make buildings more resilient. For instance, an orphanage in Haiti was built to store water much like the native Kapok tree. A honeycomb structure inspired an office tower in South Korea. This might be one strategy to prevent more weather damage in the future.

Los Angeles is partnering with two nonprofits, the Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative (LANI) and the Los Angeles Conservation Corps (LACC), to accelerate sidewalk repairs ahead of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. LANI has spent over two decades helping council districts fix broken sidewalks more cheaply and flexibly than the city's official process, and LACC pairs the repair work with paid job training for youth ages 18–26, with 30 participants already completing the program.

The Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk region of Connecticut implemented a coordinated anti-sprawl strategy focused on dense, mixed-use development near transit stations and downtown areas, using tactics like zoning reforms and eliminating parking minimums. The approach helped the region jump from the 7th worst for sprawl nationally to the 2nd most compact among mid-sized metros by 2020.

Copenhagen, Hoboken, and other cities have implemented "sponge city" approaches that combine nature-based infrastructure like absorbent parks and green spaces with traditional engineering to reduce flooding while creating popular public amenities.

The Walls Project is using public murals, youth programming, and community volunteering to address blight and disinvestment in South Dallas. Since partnering with the city of Dallas in 2019, the organization has installed more than 14 murals across North Texas, generated over $6 million in economic opportunities for artists, and mobilized nearly 1,200 volunteers to address more than 860 instances of blight between 2020 and 2024. Community members report that murals have deterred vandalism, attracted visitors, and boosted neighborhood pride.