Designing Resilience presents case studies of extreme events (including Hurricane Katrina in the United States, the London bombings, and French preparedness for the Avian flu, demonstrate effective and ineffective strategies) and analyzes the ability of affected individuals, institutions, governments, and technological systems to cope with disaster. The authors analyze specific characteristics of resilient systems, the qualities they possess and how they become resilient to determine if there are ways to build a system of resilience from the ground up.