These 5 US Cities Are Most Likely to Withstand Climate Change — and You May Have to Move Here Soon
Planning the architecture of your city involves one major aspect: Resilience. Resilience is the ability to bounce back or return to the original state following a period of stress or strain, per PSU. Nowadays, "resilient city” has become a benchmarking tool that tells how well their city is prepared to deal with the aggravating crisis of climate change. The Zebra’s research team compiled a box of different factors and curated a list of the top five resilient cities in the US.
Climate change befalls upon the urban landscapes, in explosive bursts of prolonged droughts, rampant wildfires, and intense flooding, which test the greatest strengths and the resilience of the cities. The Zebra’s research team took into consideration several factors to compile this list of the top five resilient cities, including the number of high ozone layers each year, global sea level rise, trends of weather and climate disasters in the region, average daily particle pollution, and the EPA’s Cumulative Resilience Screening Index (CRSI) for Natural Hazards, a city’s ability to withstand and recover from a natural disaster.
1. Buffalo, New York
Despite the sizzling charcoal grills of buffalo wings, the city of Buffalo proved to be the top contender in the list of America’s most resilient cities. According to the research team, the city displayed an outstanding performance in how it wrestled with the six natural disasters that struck New York City in 2021. With a high CSRI score, high ozone layer metric, zero particle pollution, and resistance to sea level rise, the city grabbed gold stars in the report card of climate resilience.
2. Minneapolis, Minnesota
Punctuated by glistening lakes and vendors selling the city’s famous flaming-hot "juicy burgers," Minneapolis was recently ranked as the world’s happiest city, per BBC. Maybe it’s the artistic, cultural, and creative vibe, but the city is just as resilient as it is happy, the research team found out. And although, unlike Buffalo, the particulate pollution level here isn’t all zero, it’s not too great as compared to other cities. 0.3 to be precise. And thanks to its distance from the coast, it doesn’t need to grapple with the rising sea levels. The air quality is excellent too.
3. Raleigh, North Carolina
Some cities are contemporary, and some are relaxed, country style. Raleigh is the best of both worlds. Marry disco vibes with southern charm, and that’s Raleigh. Concentrated mostly with Victorian and Gothic-style modernist homes, it's not just the balanced embroidery of its architecture, but also the balance of the climate that makes this city a favorite of Americans. The Zebra’s research revealed that Raleigh is low on both particulate pollution and climate disasters.
4. Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is bursting with life. Bistros pockmarked along the trails are overcrowded with customers who guzzle down glass after glass of its famous bourbon whiskey. On the other side of the town, majestic horses can be seen galloping with the breeze. However, amidst all this, the city is known to be blanketed and choked with polluted air. Smoke billowing from its electrochemical factories and the coal-fired plants of Rubbertown worsens the conditions. Despite this damage, the city is still rated with zero particle pollution by The Zebra. Plus, the remarkable resilience it displayed during thunderstorms and tornadoes cannot be forgotten.
5. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee's streets are abutted with glass and steel domes, which, however, don’t sparkle as much as they should, because the city’s atmosphere is strangled with plastic pollution. Tanneries and brewmakers spill their trash into waterways; the Great Lakes are littered with plastic particles. According to AirOasis, the city even ranked as the 26th worst candidate out of 228 U.S. cities. But when The Zebra’s team tested the city, the particulate pollution was no more than 0.3. They also found that Milwaukee has higher-than-average ozone days per year.
Following the aforementioned five cities, Columbus in Ohio, Richmond in Virginia, Boston in Massachusetts, Providence in Rhode Island, and Cleveland in Ohio were approved by the experts as the best places that can help you survive climate change, compared to the rapidly deteriorating areas like California, Florida, Georgia, and Texas.
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