planning for community resilience

How can we plan and design stronger communities? From New Orleans to
Galveston to the Jersey Shore, communities struck by natural disasters
struggle to recover long after the first responders have left. Globally,
the average annual number of natural disasters has more than doubled
since 1980. These catastrophes are increasing in number as well as in
magnitude, causing greater damage as we experience rising sea levels and
other effects of climate change.

Communities can reduce their
vulnerability to disaster by becoming more resilient?to not only bounce
back more readily from disasters but to grow stronger, more socially
cohesive, and more environmentally responsible. To be truly resilient,
disaster preparation and response must consider all populations in the
community. By bringing together natural hazards planning and community
planning to consider vulnerabilities, more resilient and equitable
communities are achievable.

In Planning for Community Resilience the authors describe an inclusive process for creating
disaster-resilient communities. Based on their recovery work after
Hurricane Ike in Galveston, Texas, they developed a process that relies
on the Disaster Impacts Model. This handbook guides any community
through the process of determining their level of hazard exposure,
physical vulnerability, and social vulnerability with the goal of
determining the best planning strategy.

Planning for Community Resilience will be invaluable to professionals working to protect their community
from disturbance, including city planners, elected officials, floodplain
managers, natural hazard managers, planning commissioners, local
business leaders, and citizen organizers.