Sydney will join global cities including Chennai, New York City, Tampa, Phoenix and Mexico City as part of Resilient Cities Catalyst’s Neighbourhood Small Business Climate Resilience Program.

Submitted by: Ameneé Siahpush,  Resilient Cities Catalyst

About Resilient Cities Catalyst.

Resilient Cities Catalyst (RCC) is a global nonprofit that accelerates action and builds capacity at the community, city and regional levels—leading to more resilient people, places and systems. RCC works closely with local leaders and organizations from all sectors to create new ways of working together, set shared goals, unlock funding, and develop practical, lasting solutions that are fair and inclusive. As a trusted and neutral partner, RCC is dedicated to collaboration that’s rooted in local needs—helping build communities that are safer, healthier, and more resilient.

RCC delivers results by working closely with partners. In Austin, we collaborated with the City to create a Heat Resilience Playbook—a tool to help the City and its partners take action to adapt to the worst impacts of extreme heat while prioritising an equitable and affordable future for all. In Phoenix, we led a process of community engagement to inform the design of built shade structures in a neighbourhood that faces high heat risk, directly supporting the City’s implementation of their recent Shade Phoenix plan. This work is bringing cooling benefits to Phoenix residents, while prioritising strategic placemaking that connects community assets such as parks and schools.

Collaboration with Sydney.

Global non-profit organisation, Resilient Cities Catalyst are partnering with Sydney leaders to deliver the Neighbourhood Small Business Climate Resilience Program (NSBCRP), which fosters climate innovation across six cities: Sydney, Chennai, New York City, Tampa, Phoenix and Mexico City. The program takes a local approach to foster climate ready main streets and small business hubs, bringing together local government, community leaders, and small business owners to plan and implement projects that address short- and long-term climate risks in neighbourhood commercial areas. Through NSBCRP, we aim to strengthen the capacity of local leaders,  accelerate project implementation, and build communities’ resilience to the impacts of climate change.

In Sydney, RCC is working with WSROC and Resilient Sydney to develop a heat resilient blue-print design book, informed by community and business engagement and real Western Sydney land use typologies in Blacktown and Camden. The blueprint and engagement process aims to use the deep dive lessons and experiences from Blacktown and Camden to support and accelerate the implementation of heat resilient design in strategic town centres across the region that are most affected by heat. Through the NSBCRP, we will also be piloting innovative solutions to extreme heat, co-designed with the small business community, that can be implemented quickly to provide heat  smart places for the most vulnerable populations and neighbourhoods.

As in Sydney, extreme heat is a major climate risk across all NSBCRP cities, creating a clear and urgent opportunity to share best practices for managing heat across the network and beyond.

Key takeaways from the program to date:

• There is growing recognition of the need to work with small businesses in climate planning. While we launched this program recognising the importance of climate-resilient business corridors, we were surprised by how rarely small businesses are explicitly considered. That’s beginning to change, with emerging models   for heat-resilient town centres and high streets rooted in the needs of the small business community.
• Local business voices are shaping complex infrastructure projects. Door-to-door outreach has surfaced overlooked needs—from informal vendors in NYC to small business owners in Tampa—revealing operational challenges, vulnerability to climate risks, and community-specific concerns. These insights are leading to  more inclusive solutions.
• The program’s work across diverse contexts offers lessons in designing projects for vendors, brick-and-mortars and residents alike. This is particularly   true in densely populated Mexico City, Chennai, and NYC, home to varied businesses and residents all within the same corridor. We are seeing strategic  interventions—such as built shade, misting tents, and educational campaigns—that are designed to bring multiple benefits in response to the related, yet distinct needs of street vendors, storefronts, and residents.
• Partnerships expand impact. Cross-sector collaboration is key. In Chennai, we’re working with Self Help Groups to strengthen women-owned businesses. In Phoenix, a coalition of business owners and residents is embedding climate resilience into place-making.

We are thrilled to partner with WSROC and Resilient Sydney through NSBCRP to support the delivery of the Heat Smart City Plan’s recommendations. We will draw on the lessons and experiences above, as well as those that continue to emerge from our ongoing work, to uplift and share best practices, innovations, and lessons across the global cohort of cities—all with a goal of ensuring communities are safer and more resilient to the current and future impacts of climate change. 

For more information: https://www.rcc.city/