Sustainable Disaster Recovery Conference“Your Next Disaster: Getting Ready for Recovery”
November 14, 2013, St. LouisJames C. Schwab, AICP
Manager, APA Hazards Planning Research Center
American Planning Association
PAS Report 577
Why rewrite the “Green Book”?1) Disaster Mitigation Act of 20002) ESF-143) FEMA within Homeland Security4) Lessons of Hurricane Katrina5) Map Modernization and RiskMap6) Florida Requirements (no longer required)7) Climate change8) Emergence of Web-based technology9) National Disaster Recovery Framework
Why did FEMA fund this project?• Rationale online:
http://www.planning.org/research/postdisaster/rationale.htm
• Resistance, resilience, reflection: • What kinds of communities do we want?• Who provides a comprehensive view of community
issues in disasters?• What distinguishes planners’ contributions?• What does it take to turn a vision of resilience into a
reality?• What do planners know about hazards?• What do they need to know?
Revisiting the “Green Book”The Old, the New, the Work in Progress
Not just a PAS Report anymore:• Online case studies• Online tools and resources (e.g., model ordinance)• Recovery News blog• Potential derivative products under consideration
Where Do We Draw the Line?Who Moves? Who Stays?
Is Resilience Personal or Public?Who Takes Responsibility?
APA Response to SandyOn October 29, 2012, Hurricane Sandy came ashore,
causing an estimated $36 billion in damages in New Jersey and another $32 billion in New York.
APA Recovery WorkshopPlanning in a Post-Sandy WorldProtecting people, strengthening communitiesAs the lights have come back on in New York and New Jersey, the region has
looked to the future. How can planning create a more resilient region? Who will make the tough decisions? And how will they change the way people live, work, and play along the coastal shores?
For an entire week in April, the American Planning Association examined the critical questions in a series of free workshops focused on long-term solutions for stronger communities. Participants learned about:
Connecting disaster recovery to long-range community planning Using an Interim Recovery Ordinance to resolve land-use issuesFinding funding and meeting state and local requirementsAdopting mitigation planning for more resilient communities
Click on the workshop links below to find the agenda, PowerPoint presentations, small group breakout session notes, and other information from each of the five workshops APA presented.
This series of free workshops was supported in part by The Planning Foundation's "Disaster Recovery and Planning" fund.
Donate to the Foundation
Breakouts: Hands-on Engagement
1: The Vision of a Resilient Community
• Resilience as a concept for governance• Resilience in functional and economic terms• Ability to adapt to social, economic, political, and
physical change• Resiliency in the context of natural hazards: How does
this fit with what planners do already?
Planning helps avoid disasters Disasters are one type of crisis Recovery policy has parallels to
development policy
Disasters are one type of crisis Natural disasters are similar to other
unexpected events that occasionally affect nearly all communities.
From a management perspective, the approaches are similar, organizing resources to tackle new challenges.
This is the domain of managers, broader than any one department of local government, typically with input from the planning department, the finance department and others.
Recovery policy has parallels to development policy The dynamics of a community are affected by
change. The rapidity of change is greatest in disaster
circumstances, measured in minutes or hours. Blight, employment decline, business
stagnation, commercial revitalization, housing construction and green initiatives are slow processes over many years.
The ingredients are the same, however. In some instances the disruption and destruction of a disaster unveils opportunities for reversing decline, taking advantage of a catalyst
CONFIDENTIAL
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Question 3: How Should the City Address Climate Risks?…And Southern Brooklyn…
Plan Highlights
Develop designs for Coney Island Creek wetlands and tidal barrier with opportunities for economic development
Support entertainment district expansion, including new roller coaster and Aquarium improvements
Work with USACE on nourishment of Coney, Brighton and Plumb Beaches
Replace destroyed Ida G. Israel hospital facility
Launch “21st C. bungalow competition” for neighborhoods such as Gerritsen Beach
Conceptual rendering of Coney Island Creek wetlands and tidal barrier
Defining Resilience1. “Resilience” in emergency management terms refers to the ability to adapt to changing conditions and withstand and rapidly recover from disruption due to emergencies. 2. Instead of repeated damage and continual demands for federal disaster assistance, resilient communities proactively protect themselves against hazards, build self-sufficiency and become more sustainable. Resilience is the capacity to absorb severe shock and return to a desired state following a disaster. It involves technical, organizational, social and economic dimensions. . . It is fostered not only by government, but also by individual, organization and business actions. (Godschalk et al., 2009)
What is a Resilient Community? Communities and the people who live therein can, however,
increase their resilience and be even better able to anticipate threats, limit their impacts, and recover more rapidly through adaptation and growth in the face of turbulent change.
Building community resilience encompasses the entire community, including its physical infrastructure, its economic and social capital, its natural environment, and its systems providing essential services.
Add to these the community’s ability to resist or recover rapidly from natural or man-caused events.
(ICMA 2011, related to CARRI)
Planners traditionally seek designs that embody resilience. In the layout of new residential neighborhoods or
industrial parks, it is common to configure streets so there is more than one way to enter or exit the development.
Such design is governed by regulation, typically by standards in the subdivision ordinance.
In this instance, the design is resilient because it can maintain access even if one street is temporarily blocked by an accident, utility work or other construction.
Finance managers likewise diversify the community’s investment assets to lower risk.
Project Design Review, Zoning, Subdivision
5-Year Transportation Improvement Program
Annual Budget: Transit/Roads, Capital Projects
Economic Development Planning
Business Improvement Districts, Incubators, TIF Strategy
Commercial Revitalization
SBDCs
Capital Improvement Plan & Growth Management
Financial Resources Strategy
Risk Management & Insurance
Reserves for Resiliency
:
Economic Development
Planning
Transportation & Land Use
Planning
General Management
Structure
Intergovernmental Planning Organizations
Metropolitan, Regional, Rural
Annual CDBG Action Plan
Agency Service Plans, Human Needs Assessments
HOME and ESG Homeless Services
CDCs and Micro- enterprise Loan Programs
Section 8 Subsidized
Rental Rehab
Senior Housing
Public Housing
Public Private Partnerships, Affordability
Neighborhood Stabilization
Stormwater & Wastewater Management Planning
Drainage Projects
Watershed Protection Plans for Wetlands
Lake Improvement
Floodplain Management Permits
5-Year Update to HM Plan
Buyouts of At-Risk Properties
Structural Resilience Grants
Waterfront Plan
Elected Governing BodyProfessional
ManagementPlanning & Development Department(s)
Advisory Commissions
and Committees
Organizing Influence: Comprehensive Plan
Routine Operations
Organization of Municipal Government for Recovery Planning
Disaster Recovery Planning ResourcesOrganizing Influence: Comprehensive Plan
Expanded Services
Event
Response Recovery Organization
Recovery Phase 1
Recovery Plan
Recovery Phases
Organizing the recovery planning process
Preparing the Plan
1: The Vision of a Resilient CommunityPlans for recovery after disasters: Why bother?• Building a local culture of disaster awareness• Providing a focus for pre-disaster exercises among
designated public officials• Opportunity to establish clear lines of responsibility
should the need arise for long-term community recovery
• Opportunity to consider and review financial needs that would be triggered by recovery
• Assessment of the community’s overall preparedness stance
Making Resilience Happen• Typology of Disaster Recovery Plans
• Pre-Disaster: Operational• Focused on short-term recovery, driven by
emergency management concerns• Pre-Disaster: Policy
• Identify managerial framework for long-term community recovery
• Identify priority issues governing recovery• Post-Disaster (Design-oriented)
• Based on assessment of known damages• Focused on physical rebuilding and community
redevelopment
2: Disaster Preparedness and Recovery: Expectation and Reality• Components of disaster management • Primer on disaster preparedness • Major federal legislation defining disaster policy • Why preparation and planning matter • The new dynamics of organizational relationships • Where anticipation and reality part company • Understanding the scale and spectrum of damages • Institutional learning after disaster • Special feature: Model recovery ordinance
Disaster Preparedness and Recovery: Expectation and Reality• Components of disaster management
Disaster Preparedness and Recovery: Expectation and Reality• Primer on disaster preparedness
Explaining the NDRF (sort of)
Disaster Preparedness and Recovery: Expectation and Reality
Sidebar: Major Federal Legislation Defining Disaster Policy
• Key Federal Disaster Management Laws
• Key Federal Secondary Disaster Management Laws
Key Federal Disaster Management Systems
• Federal Response Plan, 1992 • 44 CFR Part 201 – Mitigation
Planning• National Incident
Management System, 2004• National Response Plan, 2004 • National Response
Framework, 2007 • Presidential Preparedness
Policy Directive – 8 • NDRF, 2011
Disaster Preparedness and Recovery: Expectation and Reality• Why preparation and planning matter • The new dynamics of organizational relationships • Where anticipation and reality part company • Institutional learning after disaster
Disaster Impact/Recovery TypologySource: Ken Topping
Geographic Scale Low Impact Event(Low to moderate life loss,
population-economic dislocation, damage –
primarily requires repair or restoration of homes and
facilities)
High Impact Event(Extensive life loss,
population-economic dislocation, major
destruction - requires full re-planning and major
reconstruction ) Sites/Neighborhood
Level 1. Localized Restoration
Level 2. Localized Reconstruction
Substantial Parts of Community
Level 3. Community
Restoration
Examples: recurring flooding, hurricane damage
Level 4. Community
Reconstruction
Examples: Greensburg KS, Oakland Hills Fire
Substantial Parts of Region
Level 5. Regional Restoration
Example: Northridge EQ
Level 6. Regional Reconstruction (Catastrophic)
Examples: Hurricane Katrina; Gulf Oil Spill; Tohoku EQ and
Tsunami
MODEL PRE‐EVENT RECOVERY ORDINANCE
One action a community can take to move toward better management of disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery is the adoption of an ordinance before or after a damaging event to serve as either a forerunner or supplement to a full‐blown recovery plan. The Model Recovery Ordinance below outlines a foundation on which a community can organize in advance of a declared disaster to efficiently manage short‐ and long‐term recovery.
Draft posted at: https://www.planning.org/research/postdisaster/pdf/modelrecoveryordinance.pdf
3: Long-term Recovery Planning: Goals and Policies • Whole community recovery (Quality of life in addition
to physical rebuilding)• Opportunities for post-disaster hazard mitigation• Land use• Infrastructure/transportation restoration• Housing• Economic redevelopment• Environmental restoration• Health and recovery
• Making it all work together
4: Long-term Recovery Planning: Process • Where and when to start
• Before disaster strikes: Characterize the planning environment
• After disaster strikes: Characterize the planning environment
• Leadership and collaboration• Broadening public
involvement• Psychological and emotional
considerations
5: Long-term Recovery Planning: Implementation
• Before disaster strikes: What aspects of a PDRP may need implementation even before disaster strikes?
• After disaster strikes: What obstacles are likely to arise in a post-disaster scenario?
• Post-disaster organization and roles• Financing implementation• Establishing milestones and a timetable for
implementation• Implementation as a community enterprise• Managing post-disaster uncertainties• Legal issues• Metrics of recovery: measuring success
6: Next Steps in Creating Resilient Communities • Resilience and the future of planning• Fostering public understanding of environmental
change• Green communities and economic development• Seizing opportunities and anticipating the unexpected
Contact InformationJim Schwab, AICP, ManagerAPA Hazards Planning Research Centerhttp://www.planning.org/nationalcenters/hazards/[email protected]
The work of the Hazards Planning Research Center advances communities that reduce the impact of natural hazards on the built environment.
