---
title: your city runs the market. the protocol is the rails
canonical_url: https://ensurance.app/guide/your-city-runs-the-market-the-protocol-is-the-rails
markdown_url: https://ensurance.app/guide/your-city-runs-the-market-the-protocol-is-the-rails.md
subtitle: "what a city operates in its own adaptation and resilience marketplace, what it borrows, and what is live today"
category: how-to
---

# your city runs the market. the protocol is the rails

*what a city operates in its own adaptation and resilience marketplace, what it borrows, and what is live today*

The marsh that takes the surge, the floodplain that holds the storm, the canopy on the hottest ward and the creek buffer that cools the street are the kind of places an adaptation plan names. They do their work whether or not a city lists them. A resilience marketplace is how the parties who carry the risk pay for that work before the damage. *Ensurance* is the rails a city can use instead of building its own. Neither the market nor the rails is the worth of the marsh.

That leaves a practical question for a chief resilience officer or a climate office: if the city wants a market, which parts does the city run, and which parts can it borrow? **Adaptation finance for cities** often means a capital plan, a bond, a grant round or a fund. A market adds something those do not: a standing list of named work that outside payors can fund, one project at a time, with a public record of who paid for what. This post splits the job in two.

:::johnson
**the city runs the market. the protocol is the rails.**

The list, the screening and the payors are the city's. The accounts, the certificates, the split and the record already exist, and the city points them at its own places.

[see the city's side →](/solutions/governments?from=guide&topic=city-resilience-marketplace)
:::

## what the city operates

Only the city can do these. They are the market.

**The list.** Which work, at which named place, against which risk. It comes out of the adaptation plan the city already has: the canopy on a named ward, a floodplain pocket, a stretch of marsh, a depaved lot. If the city has not yet put a value on the nature it owns, [how a city values the nature it already owns](/guide/how-a-city-values-the-nature-it-already-owns?from=guide) covers that step.

**The screening.** Whether a project is ready, who does the work, what it costs, and what evidence will come back. A market that lists everything is a wish list. A market that says no is one a payor may trust more.

**The payors.** The utility, the insurer with the city's book, the hospital, the port, the large employer. Those conversations run through the city's own relationships, and the unit each payor already counts comes from them. [Who pays into a city's resilience market](/guide/who-pays-into-a-city-resilience-market?from=guide) lists them by role.

**The stewards.** Who looks after each place once it is funded: a parks crew, a land trust, a community group. The city decides who is named on each project's split.

**Its own procurement.** Choosing a provider, signing contracts and answering to council stay with the city. Borrowed rails do not change who is accountable.

## what the rails carry

Everything else is plumbing that every city would otherwise pay to build on its own.

| part | on ensurance today | what stays with the city |
|---|---|---|
| A home for the market | A **group**: a namespace in the city's name, such as `.{city}` (recommended, not minted). `.mumbai` (22 agents), `.boulder` (33), `.tokyo` (7) and `.la` (2) are live | Deciding to open one |
| An account per project | An **agent** inside the group, an account in the project's name (for example, a ward agent, not minted) | Which projects get one |
| Something a payor can fund | A **certificate** line per project: suggested, then created after review | Which projects are ready to sell |
| The split | Proceeds route to the project's account on a split, with the steward named | Who is on the split |
| The record | Accounts, certificates and payments sit on a public ledger anyone can read | Telling payors where to look |
| The evidence | [Natural assets](/natural-assets?from=guide) with a RealValue valuation (ensurance's method for valuing what a place holds and provides) of what each holds and provides | What the adaptation plan needs to see |
| The front end | A group page on ensurance.app that lists its agents; [the Mumbai group](/groups/mumbai?from=guide) is a working example | Pointing payors at it |

A certificate is a record that a named payor funded named work at a named place. It is not an insurance policy, a catastrophe bond, an offset, an adaptation or resilience credit, or an investment, and it promises no premium cut or smaller claim.

Today the protocol holds 25 groups and 9 natural assets. The live city groups are communities, not yet payor-funded resilience markets, and no city has set one up with us. The deployment is offered.

Whether to build these pipes or borrow them is a choice a city should make with open eyes, and [you do not have to build the marketplace](/guide/you-do-not-have-to-build-the-marketplace?from=guide) sets out both routes. This post takes the borrow route as given and asks only who does what.

## live and not live, said exactly

| live today | not live |
|---|---|
| Groups, including `.mumbai`, `.boulder`, `.tokyo` and `.la` | A front end in the city's own brand or domain: built to order, scoped at contact |
| Cross-city syndicates (shared accounts that carry one theme across cities) for heat, water, flood, coast and urban nature | Fiat or invoice checkout for a city or a payor: scoped at contact |
| Certificates, suggested and created after review | Self-serve listing without review |
| Proceeds on a split to a project's account | Any regulated unit: no insurance policy, offset, or adaptation or resilience credit |
| Natural assets with a RealValue valuation | A city group for a C40 city or GCoM signatory beyond the few live today (`.mumbai`, `.boulder`, `.tokyo`, `.la`), and none of those yet runs a listed, payor-funded resilience market |

After review, a city could have its group and its first project accounts and point payors at its page. A site in the city's name, reading the same records, is something we would build to order. We have not delivered one for any city yet, and it is not on the public rate card.

## no city goes alone

A market built on its own has one city's projects and one city's payors, and every link to the rest of the world has to be built later. A city's market on ensurance starts linked to every other market in the protocol. Cross-city syndicates already carry a risk across cities: [urban-heat.syndicate](/urban-heat.syndicate?from=guide), [water-cycle.syndicate](/water-cycle.syndicate?from=guide), [flood-resilience.syndicate](/flood-resilience.syndicate?from=guide), [coastal-resilience.syndicate](/coastal-resilience.syndicate?from=guide) and [urban-nature.syndicate](/urban-nature.syndicate?from=guide). A city's coins would pair with `$ENSURE`, the protocol's shared coin, and trade through one swap contract (the router), so a coin in one group can be exchanged for a coin in another. An account in any group can hold another group's certificates, so a payor with sites in several cities could hold certificates from each from one account, once those cities' projects exist. The links are live; the depth between markets is still early, and nothing here promises that another city's payors will come.

## one rung at a time

The city can climb in public, one rung at a time: [how a city runs its own resilience marketplace](/guide/how-a-city-runs-its-own-resilience-marketplace?from=guide) sets out the four rungs.

## frequently asked questions

### what does a city actually run in a resilience market?

The list of named work, the screening of each project, the relationships with payors, the choice of stewards, and its own procurement. The accounts, certificates, split and public record are the rails.

### can the market carry our city's brand?

Today a group page on ensurance.app carries the city's group and its projects. A front end in the city's own brand and domain is built to order and scoped at contact. None has been delivered yet.

### can a payor or the city pay by invoice?

Not on a public checkout. Fiat or invoice payment is scoped at contact; how it would be recorded is part of that scoping.

### is our city's group already live?

Only if the city's group is among the live groups, as [Mumbai's](/groups/mumbai?from=guide) is. For most C40 cities and GCoM signatories it is not yet, and a name like `.{city}` is a recommendation, not minted, until the city asks for it.

### we already have a resilience fund or bonds. does this replace them?

No. Keep them. A market sits beside them as a way for outside payors to fund named projects. [Adaptation and resilience are not the same ticket](/guide/adaptation-and-resilience-are-not-the-same-ticket?from=guide) helps sort which work sits where.

## next step

If you run a city's adaptation or resilience plan, start from [the governments page](/solutions/governments?from=guide&topic=city-resilience-marketplace). A regional body can start from [the regional collaboratives page](/solutions/regional-collaboratives?from=guide&topic=city-resilience-marketplace). The public ranges for a deployment and a program are on [our services page](/services?from=guide#finance). Or [tell us the city and the first places on its list](/contact?from=guide&topic=city-resilience-marketplace).

## sources

- [the Mumbai group](/groups/mumbai?from=guide): `.mumbai` with 22 agents; 25 groups including `.boulder` (33), `.tokyo` (7) and `.la` (2), counted 4 November 2026
- [Natural assets](/natural-assets?from=guide): 9 natural assets, counted 4 November 2026
- [You do not have to build the marketplace](/guide/you-do-not-have-to-build-the-marketplace?from=guide): the build-or-borrow choice
- [Our services page](/services?from=guide#finance): the public rate card

## the series

1. [how a city runs its own adaptation and resilience marketplace](/guide/how-a-city-runs-its-own-resilience-marketplace?from=guide)
2. [what an adaptation marketplace lists](/guide/what-an-adaptation-marketplace-lists?from=guide)
3. [who pays into a city's resilience market](/guide/who-pays-into-a-city-resilience-market?from=guide)
4. **your city runs the market. the protocol is the rails** (you are here)
5. [a town joins its region's resilience market](/guide/a-town-joins-its-regions-resilience-market?from=guide)
6. [launch your city's resilience marketplace](/guide/launch-your-citys-resilience-marketplace?from=guide)