Community Resilience Hubs: Mapping Access, Impact, and Adaptive Capacity

With climate impacts accelerating, resilience hubs are gaining traction as a powerful, community-centered solution that addresses both everyday needs and emergency preparedness—particularly in historically underserved areas. This session showcases research from USGBC’s LEED Schneider Research Fellow at Stanford University, exploring how the interaction of space type, physical location, and community adaptive capacity can shape resilience outcomes across different project types.
Through a high-level analysis of LEED v4.1 Resilience pilot credit data, spatial access mapping, case studies, and insights from industry interviews, the session shares initial observations on how LEED projects could more meaningfully contribute to equity-centered resilience strategies. The findings raise important questions about how the tools within LEED v5—such as the new LEED v5 Resilience Hubs pilot credit—could improve access and outcomes for frontline communities experiencing the impacts of climate change first and worst.
Audience members will also have the opportunity to directly contribute to this ongoing work by completing the USGBC Resilience Survey, accessible via QR code at the end of the session. Feedback collected will help shape future LEED v5 Resilience resources to better reflect the lived experiences and priorities of USGBC’s diverse community.