Heat Risk, Up Close and Personal

The day began with a session that brought forth the immediate climate risks in our region: “Heat Vulnerability at Multiple Scales in the Commonwealth.” Led by Alec Bernstein (ICF) and Abby Sullivan (City of Philadelphia Office of Sustainability), the insights they shared revealed startling data on how heat affects different parts of the commonwealth in different ways.

“We often design for the average,” said Sullivan, “but people live in the extremes.” Sullivan and Bernstein explained that extreme heat is changing at a higher rate than the average temperatures and heat related deaths are impacting our community more than ever. We will reach a point when we have to shift working hours so that outdoor workers in construction and agriculture are protected during extreme heat.

The takeaway? If your climate models aren’t granular, your solutions won’t reach the people most at risk.

When it rains, it floods!

Next we dove into local strategies highlighting cross-sector collaboration and design interventions to strengthen climate resilience. Meteorologist  led the discussion through a panel, “Resilience Across the Region: Best Practices from Commonwealth Communities.”

• Mrinalini Verma (OBJ Landscape Architecture ) & Susan Myerov (Leigh Valley Planning Commission) shared a case study that reimagines a highway corridor as a chance to mitigate heat, manage runoff and create healthier public space. Myerov explained, “We don’t always need mega-projects. Sometimes the power is in stitching together small, smart moves across a network.” The case study further emphasizes incremental retrofits as a practical path for budget-constrained municipalities.
• Kyla Prendergast (City of Pittsburgh) shared the 2022 stormwater regulations update in Pittsburgh. Prendergast also talked through how the city built staff capacity which can often be a significant
• Marc Henderson (Meliora Design) shared a case study from Radnor Township on how green infrastructure is being used to mitigate urban flooding. They implemented bioswales, rain gardens, and permeable pavement to reduce runoff in key areas. Henderson stressed the importance of monitoring green infrastructure performance over time and involving local maintenance teams from day one, reminding attendees that “If you don’t plan for long-term maintenance, even the greenest infrastructure can fail. Resilience is a life-cycle commitment.”

Nature-Based Solutions — With a Story

What makes a good resilience strategy? Sometimes it’s the capital investment, and sometimes it’s the maintenance investment, but it’s always the narrative.

In the “Master Talks” series, leaders from The Wetlands Institute, the Bader Field redevelopment team in Atlantic City, and Pennsylvania Horticultural Society shared not just projects, but stories of transformation.

• Lenore P. Tedesco (The Wetlands Institute) in Stone Harbor, New Jersey, shared how salt marsh restoration provides both ecological buffer and cultural education. Tedesco’s team used SLAMM (Seal Level Affecting Marshes Model) to project how coastal habitats will change in response to sea-level rising scenarios and shared how TWI is in the process of raising the elevation of areas  to restore marshes and create habitat for nesting diamondback terrapins and other birds.
• David Mazzocco (The Sheward Partnership, LLC) presented a flood-resilient urban district designed on the old site of the Atlantic City Airport.  It was designed not just to survive water, but to embrace new technologies and the new climate realities.
• Matt Rader (Pennsylvania Horticulture Society) discussed how maintenance investment is key because we are working with living systems among changing ecosystems and landscapes. Rader shared how PHS turns known benefits into outcomes on the ground like community gardens that cool blocks while growing social cohesion.

Fireside: Energy & Policy

Moderated by Rich Freeh (Green Building United), the fireside explored the intersection of resilient energy policy and practice.

• Lisa Shulock (Philadelphia Energy Authority) shared an update on current policies and incentives (tax credits, municipal energy goals and clean energy programs) currently at play. In terms of energy, Shulock said, “solar and storage is like peanut butter and jelly,” in that the two components are crucial to pair together.
• Kara Haggerty Wilson (Onion Flats Architecture) presented her experience working on deep energy retrofit projects in Boston. She explained how building code policies and adoption in MA is unlike anything happening around the country – in terms of decarbonization, resilience and reducing energy demand.
• Isabelle Coupet (Green Building United) underscored the importance of collaboration, resource-sharing, and storytelling. She discussed the important role organizations like Green Building United play engaging in advocacy efforts and providing relevant education to empower communities toward resilience, and  introduced the forthcoming Better Buildings Hub for Greater Philadelphia which will serve as a one-stop resource for sustainability and resilience-related topics for stakeholders across the built environment.

Resilience from the Ground Up

Formal sessions concluded with a panel moderated by Alexa Bosse (Hinge Collective) lifting up projects deeply embedded in communities:

• Jen Hurley (Connect the Dots) talked about The Eastwick Flood Resilience Project, one of Philadelphia’s most flood-prone neighborhoods, where decades of mistrust are being unpacked with care.
• Adriana Abizadeh (Kensington Corridor Trust) shared her organiziation’s work where resilience means economic development, safety, and preserving affordability — not just green roofs.

Resilience is the people. It’s who makes decisions. It’s who owns land. It’s all of us together. Jen Hurley reflected “we often think of resilience in terms of physical assets. But the real assets are the people who stay, organize and care – even when the systems around them fail.”

Tools of Resilience — and the Table Talks

During the lunch hour, attendees could step away from panels into hands-on demonstration rooms:

• A drone-enabled mapping tool dubbed “The Green Giant” showcased how remote sensing can track urban heat islands.
• A thermal comfort simulator offered real-time projections of microclimate scenarios in Philadelphia’s densest neighborhoods.

Meanwhile, a series of “table talks” brought small-group energy to topics like:

• Public art as a resilience strategy
• Resilience in suburbs and edge communities
• Post-disaster recovery as a planning framework

It is in these moments — quick, unscripted, often over hoagies — where we realize that the only way through uncertainty in changing landscapes, both natural and political, is to build connections to each other.

While the mood was optimistic, it wasn’t naive. There is work to do. Conversations throughout the day returned to real barriers including interagency fragmentation, funding gaps, policy lag and equity blind spots.

Takeaways

Whether you’re a developer, planner, nonprofit leader, or just someone who cares about your city’s future, here are five takeaways from the Forum worth carrying into your own work:

1. Scale your solutions to the neighborhood — and the people who live there.
2. Use data wisely — not as a hammer, but as a compass.
3. Design for maintenance — resilience is what happens after ribbon-cuttings.
4. Build multi-sector coalitions — because no single agency can fix this alone.
5. Center equity from day one — not as an afterthought, but as the foundation.

A heartfelt thank you to all who participated in the 2025 Urban Resilience Forum. Your insights and contributions were invaluable to foster a robust discussion on climate resilience strategies.

We also express our appreciation to the dedicated members of our event planning committee and the ULI Philadelphia Resilience Committee for their tireless efforts in organizing this successful event. 

Together, we have taken another step toward building a more resilient Philadelphia for generations to come.  

We extend our sincere gratitude to our generous sponsors and the ULI Randall Lewis Center for Sustainability in Real Estate for their support: 

Lanyard

Supporting

Event recap written by: