URBDP 508B Land Use/Environmental Planning Studio in Hazard Mitigation

Fall 2003 MW 4:00-5:50, 12 Gould, Bob Freitag, Frank Westerlund

This studio will involve the development of a multi-hazard mitigation plan to guide a local jurisdiction in taking actions to reduce risks from a variety of natural and manmade hazards such as:

• Earthquakes
• Floods
• Landslides
• Wildfires
• Meteorological hazards
• Hazardous waste releases, and terrorism.

Such planning is now seen as a critical element in achieving community sustainability and requires integration with all other aspects of comprehensive planning and growth management. New sources of federal and other funding are available to support hazard mitigation, so this is becoming a growth area within the within the planning field.

Participants in the studio will learn and apply methods and tools for:

• Risk Analysis (Hazard, Vulnerability and Capability)
• Scenario-based risk assessment, and
• Involvement of citizens and public officials in the development of mitigation objectives, strategies and measures.

Hazards mitigation, as the long-term reduction of risks, is another important lens through which to view all planning, and the plan that we will develop will build mitigation into many of the on-going processes of planning, building, management, and maintenance in both the public and private sectors of the client community.