Resilience Prize

Scottsdale’s Indian Bend Wash Greenbelt exemplifies the resilience dividend.

Our inaugural Resilience Prize was awarded to the City of Scottsdale for taking purposeful action to improve community resilience in Maricopa County by creating the Indian Bend Wash Greenbelt.

In the 1960s, the City of Scottsdale was aware that it needed to tackle an age-old flooding problem. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers suggested building a concrete channel. However, the residents of Scottsdale had a different idea. With diverse groups coming together and city planning director Bill Walton leading the effort, they were able to implement a creative solution.

Today, the Indian Bend Wash Greenbelt is an 11-mile oasis in the heart of Scottsdale. The greenbelt’s primary function is as an efficient flood-control system, but the innovative design also provides beautiful outdoor space to city residents.

“You can relax, you can take a nap, you can jog, youcan do almost anything on the greenbelt,” says Walton.

It is really time to highlight this greenbelt and the ways in which a community can come together for decision making that has a positive impact in so many different ways.

— Elizabeth Wentz, Director, Knowledge Exchange for Resilience

A multi-use project that features a world-renowned flood-control system and miles of recreational amenities, the Indian Bend Wash Greenbelt showcases the potential for communities to come together and create resilient responses that serve present and future generations.

We are honored to recognize the City of Scottsdale with the inaugural Resilience Prize. The Indian Bend Wash Greenbelt is a special place because, for many residents, the ‘dividends’ are its raison d’être — what better way to celebrate.

It’s been wonderful to have the Indian Bend Wash Greenbelt seen as such a positive asset for our city and to be recognized with this inaugural award; we are very proud to receive it.

— W.J. “Jim” Lane, Mayor of Scottsdale, Arizona