In his PrepTalk, Dr. Philip Berke explains how effective land use planning strengthens community resilience, through sharing research that shows “preventative land use policies have the highest benefit-cost ratios and Community Rating System incentives, yet are the least used actions to reduce vulnerability and promote mitigation.” He is a Professor of Land Use and Environmental Planning at College Station, Texas A&M, and Director of the Institute for Sustainable Communities there. He co-authored “Natural Hazard Mitigation: Recasting Disaster Policy and Planning,” selected as one of the 100 Essential Books in Planning of the 20th century by the American Planning Association Centennial Great Books.
Related Resources:
- PrepTalks Discussion Guide: Land Use Planning for Community Resilience
- Plan Integration for Resilience Scorecard Guidebook: How to spatially evaluate networks of plans to reduce hazard vulnerability.
- Beyond the Basics: Best Practices in Local Mitigation Planning
- FEMA: Mitigation Planning Program Resource List: resources to help guide the development and implementation of hazard mitigation plans.
- FEMA: National Flood Insurance Program Community Rating System incentive program information
- FEMA: List of State Hazard Mitigation Officers (SHMOs)
- Planning Information Exchange: American Planning Association, Hazards Planning Center
- What is Planning? American Planning Association
- Introduction to Building Codes: International Code Council
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Community Resilience Planning Guide
- ATSDR/CDC Social Vulnerability Index (SVI)
Q & A Session
PrepTalks are given by subject-matter experts and thoughts leaders to spread new ideas, spark conversation, and promote innovative leadership for the issues confronting emergency managers now and over the next 20 years. For more information and more talks, see https://www.fema.gov/preptalks
