Research Summary
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) operates the Community
Resilience Program (CRP) to help communities and stakeholders develop resilience and
recovery solutions by focusing on the nexus of buildings, built infrastructure systems,
and their supporting social and economic functions. Through science-based tools,
guidance, and indicators, NIST aims to empower communities to improve their ability to
prepare for, withstand, and recover from acute shocks, chronic stressors, and compound
impacts.
The Community Resilience Assessment Methodology Products project develops the
tools for communities to quantitatively assess their resilience over time. This assessment
is based on a comprehensive suite of community resilience indicators that capture
essential elements of physical, social, and economic systems. Research areas include, but
are not limited to: indicator validation studies, methods for downscaling indicators, and
identifying actions that influence resilience outcomes. To support this work, tools have
been developed and are available to the research team: 1) Inventory of Community
Resilience Indicators & Assessment Frameworks and 2) Tracking Community Resilience
(TraCR) database.
Community Resilience
Assessment
Methodology Products:
Research Overview
NIST Research Brief
NIST RB 8
August 2025
Michael Gerst
1
, Maria Dillard
1
, Tiffany
Cousins
1
, and Donghwan Gu
2
1: Division 731 Materials and Structural Systems
Division, Engineering Laboratory, National Institute
of Standards and Technology, USA
2: University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
This publication is available free of charge from: https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.RB.8
