The Resilient Urban Systems & Habitat RUSH Initiative whatstherush.earth

The RUSH Initiative is a cross sectoral collaboration to create rapid resilience in record time by engaging people in creating the conditions for health now, and into the future.

Our approach combines nature-inspired design, community mapping and a focus on health with watersheds as a primary indicator.

By showcasing the research, creativity, and innovation happening in this region on an interactive landing page, we hope to provide a shared language on the vulnerabilities and opportunities for long-term health and climate action.

We want to change the critical questions that get asked in planning meetings such as:

How is a development proposal an opportunity to increase resilience to climate-related events? How can we support neighbourhoods to adapt and thrive in changing conditions? If we extend and connect the ecosystem features across the urban landscape, what are all the benefits people would feel? How can we work with Nature to create a quality of life for all?

This is a tool for people to connect habitats, restore watersheds, feel a sense of belonging, and start conversations that help us reverse the trend of climate change, pollution and hopelessness.

Climate change is a real bummer but reversing the trend is at our fingertips and in our footprints. The Resilient Urban Systems & Habitat (RUSH) Initiative is about rapid resilience in record time.

Join this collective creation to mapping the difference we’re all making. Comparing datasets on personal and planetary health. Help us plot the spots that track the healing. Help identify the risks and the fixes.

The RUSH Initiative is exploring this work on the unceded and unsurrendered territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən and SENĆOŦEN speaking peoples. Maps have a long history of erasure of Indigenous cultures and territories. Our goal is to promote tools that support the healing of ecosystems and communities so that all beings can live their best life.

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