U.S. cities are enduring an increasing number of shocks—from mass shootings to extreme weather events. These tragedies not only take innocent lives, but they tear at community bonds and can inflict trauma that can be hard to overcome. A city that isn’t resilient enough to withstand the aftermath of a disaster, manmade or natural, isn’t one that can serve for long as a viable center of commerce, culture, and society. Such jolts not only take a huge emotional toll, but also have a financial cost. Research published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry found that in 2018, post-traumatic stress disorder cost the U.S. economy over $230 billion, while research from the University of Pennsylvania found that childhood trauma alone cost society over $450 billion each year. The American Psychological Association defines trauma as “an emotional response to a terrible event,” with symptoms that include denial, nightmares, and damaged relationships. Trauma can scar whole communities for generations. America needs to ensure that its cities are resilient to trauma, that they are built to help us process and heal from life’s terrible events. Above and beyond strong infrastructure, such as levees that protect my hometown of New Orleans against hurricanes, cities need to better anticipate, mitigate, and heal from trauma itself. But how?

TRAUMA-INFORMED URBAN DEVELOPMENT

The solution is trauma-informed urban development, a holistic approach that considers the psychological, emotional, and social well-being of residents, whereas traditional urban development often focuses on physical infrastructure alone. The goal for trauma-informed urban development is resilience, community cohesion, and aid in recovery. Here are seven recommendations that don’t need to be put into effect after disaster strikes, but can inform city building today:

1. Consult mental health experts in the urban planning, design, and development processes.
2. Engage affected residents and tailor investments and interventions to meet their needs.
3. Acknowledge pain, honor victims, and celebrate perseverance through arts and culture.
4. Connect people with nature to encourage meditation, prayer, and reflection through parks and other green space, designed for the dual use of climate change mitigation.
5. Support mixed-use real estate to increase chances that city centers remain active.
6. Program communal spaces with healing experiences, such as yoga and group therapy.
7. Provide economic opportunities, so people can thrive beyond the disaster—from upskilling scholarships to small business loans.

Take three cities, of various sizes, which have endured unimaginable tragedy and see how they’ve coped with trauma, incorporating some of the recommendations from above.

New York’s 9/11 Memorial and Museum offers visitors the chance to come together, reflect, and grieve. With green infrastructure (a park and open space), the memorial can offer moments of solace. The same goes for commemorative spaces, such as statues and monuments. The square-shaped sunken fountains, built in the footprint of the Twin Tower foundations, evoke the feeling of loss so many endured, while the quiet rush of water can invite prayerlike meditation. It was all part of a comprehensive and decades-long effort to revitalize lower Manhattan, which continues to this day with the recent opening of a performing arts center.

In Tulsa, where I founded a nonprofit economic development organization, the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre that destroyed Black Wall Street still affects the city’s psyche. The search for unmarked graves continues to this day. To commemorate the massacre’s centennial, the city opened the Greenwood Rising Museum, which chronicles the horrific event, and the John Hope Franklin Reconciliation Park, which was designed to bring the community together. I was there the day the museum and park opened, and I felt a palpable sense of hope for the future—not despite, but because of, the communal mourning. Importantly, Tulsa has also paired place-based assets with investments to support Black entrepreneurship, such as the Black Tech Street and Build in Tulsa initiatives.

On a spring day in 2011, an F5 tornado tore through the town of Joplin, Missouri. Nearly a thousand homes were destroyed, and 161 lives lost. The tragedy made national news, but the process of healing would take years after the spotlight faded. In addition to increased storm shelters, local leaders knew they needed to heal as a community. Inspired by multiple reports, mostly from children, who saw butterfly-like entities in the sky following the tornado, Joplin built the Butterfly Memorial in Cunningham Park. Reflecting the community’s predominantly Christian faith, the memorial utilizes open green space, flower beds, benches, a fountain, statues of religious figures and children, and the frames of empty houses.

For many U.S. cities, the challenge is twofold: a lack of connectivity because of poor public transportation and walkability and a lack of urban parks, which could lead to a fraying of social cohesion were the worst to happen. Cities that score high on parks (based on Trust for Public Land’s ParkScore) and walkability (based on Walk Score) include Arlington, Boston, Seattle, and Minneapolis. These cities stand a good chance of being resilient to trauma.

On the other hand, cities that score low on parks and walkability include Anaheim, Houston, Jacksonville, and Memphis. These cities would benefit from additional green spaces that bring people together, foster community, and connect previously separated neighborhoods. Adding parks would be a good start to anticipating the need to heal from a traumatic event.

In Virgil’s The Aeneid, a terrible storm strikes the Trojan fleet and washes Aeneas and his soldiers ashore. In a rousing speech, he encourages his men to put the tragedy that befell them in perspective, saying, “An hour will come, with pleasure to relate. Your sorrows past, as benefits of Fate.” Virgil isn’t saying we should enjoy or desire tragedy, but rather that suffering is part of life and that trauma is one of the things that unites us. Humanity’s ability to persevere is inspiring, and there is an opportunity to come out stronger on the other side. Integrating trauma-informed principles into cities can minimize the psychological impact of tragedies, strengthen social fabric, and help humanity reach a more hopeful and resilient state of mind.

Nicholas Lalla is a visiting scholar at UCLA’s Luskin School of Public Affairs and the founder of Tulsa Innovation Labs.