On September 17, 2025, Economic Architecture and Brookings Metro hosted the latest conversation on building climate resilience as part of the Safe, Healthy, and Resilient Homes series: “Structural innovations that build resilience in the face of hurricanes.” The discussion explored how communities can strengthen homes, infrastructure, and systems as storms and hurricanes become more frequent and destructive.
The event featured:
- Manann Donoghoe, Fellow, The Brookings Institution
- Lars Powell, Director, Center for Risk and Insurance Research at The University of Alabama
- Johanna Lawton, Deputy Director, Rebuild by Design
- Carlos Martín, VP for Research and Policy Engagement, Resources for the Future; Nonresident Senior Fellow, Brookings Metro
- Andre Perry, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
- Stuart Yasgur, Founder and Principal, Economic Architecture
Building climate resilience in the face of hurricanes
Practical, scalable approaches can reduce risk before storms hit communities. The panelists reviewed recent evidence of escalating risk and shared field-tested solutions, such as Alabama’s FORTIFIED home program, Rebuild by Design’s community-led infrastructure projects, and Hoboken’s stormwater resilient parks. They explored resilience as a challenge that ties housing, insurance, workforce, and community capacity together, concluding that, while the technical solutions matter, without proper support structures in place across finance, policy, and civic engagement, the solutions will not provide long-term protection to the communities that need them most.
Brookings Senior Fellow Andre Perry opened the conversation by saying, “Resilience is not merely a technical objective. It is a social and moral imperative. The people hit hardest by disasters are often those who were already living with inequities in housing, income, and access to opportunity. Building resilience means building fairness into our systems.”
Perry opened the discussion by grounding the conversation in lived experience and lessons from New Orleans: resilience is not only about stronger materials or construction codes, but also about people and justice. He advocated that durable, equitable homes should be treated as a shared public standard rather than a privilege. Perry’s framing set a clear equity lens for the discussion: investments in resilience must reduce vulnerability and expand opportunities, rather than deepen existing divides.
Watch the full video of the event:
Rising risks and cascading disasters
Brookings Fellow Manann Donoghoe also shared some stark data: “In 2024, there were 18 named storms, including 11 hurricanes and five major hurricanes. These storms displaced a record 46 million residents and caused over $130 billion in damages, making it the most destructive and the third costliest season on record.”
Donoghoe emphasized that the real challenge is not just the frequency of disasters but the vulnerability of communities. “Responding to this more dynamic set of risks requires a different approach that can enable communities to break out of cycles of disaster response and recovery,” he explained.
Lessons from past disasters
Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Sandy were two of the most significant disasters in the history of the U.S. The panelists drew from their experiences where rebuilding efforts underscored the need for advanced planning rather than short-term fixes. They also explained the related maintenance costs for the solutions.
Johanna Lawton of Rebuild by Design reflected that, after recent catastrophic storms: “We could not build back exactly how it was done before. There needed to be a moment of rethinking and rebuilding towards future impacts.”
She highlighted Hoboken, New Jersey, where stormwater-absorbing parks now serve as daily community assets and protective infrastructure: “When New York City was underwater during Hurricane Ophelia, Hoboken was dry by 3 pm the next day. And that’s the problem—the success story is invisible. The story is that we don’t see the flooding.”
She added, “I think the reality is that we’re continually chasing a problem that we’re making bigger as we’re simultaneously trying to figure out and consistently innovate.” Thus, leadership support from both the public and private sectors is necessary.
Mitigation as the norm for building climate resilience
Dr. Lars Powell stressed that insurance markets can’t cover the cost of rebuilding over and over again, and that preventing damage should be standard practice: “We can’t just rebuild everything every few years and expect insurance to not be really, really expensive. Mitigation needs to be the norm, not an investment.”
Powell stated that programs like Alabama’s FORTIFIED Home initiative demonstrate how proactive measures can be beneficial. “The data show that FORTIFIED homes are much less likely to be damaged or destroyed during a hurricane or strong storm. Families benefit from lower premiums, communities benefit from lower recovery costs, and the system as a whole is stronger.”
He observed that although mitigation investments may appear costly initially, they are generally less expensive than the repeated cycle of damage and recovery. “Every study I’ve seen shows that a dollar spent on mitigation saves multiple dollars in avoided losses. The challenge is shifting the mindset so that building stronger is the default, not the exception.”
Structural innovation beyond disaster recovery
Dr. Carlos Martín called attention to the need for sustained advocacy and better data to measure progress: “We have a history of focusing on resilience when the disaster strikes, and at that point, nobody’s looking to innovate. Most people just want to get back to normal, even if normal wasn’t good enough before.”
The path forward
The moderator, Stuart Yasgur, Founder and Principal of Economic Architecture, closed the session by emphasizing that building climate resilience requires structural innovations: “Sustainable, resilient homes must reflect our collective promise of equity, a future where safe, healthy, and durable housing is a standard, not a privilege.”
Economic Architecture and Brookings will continue this work through upcoming events and a podcast series highlighting innovators across the country. Together, these conversations are shaping a framework for structural innovations that help communities withstand escalating climate disasters.