Resilience Resources

Hazard Mitigation Planning Resources

The Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) comprehensive web site on hazard mitigation includes "how-to' guides, fact sheets, grant information, and information on sustainability issues, including hazard mitigation.

Practice Safe Growth Audits

The American Planning Association's audit provides a series of questions that communities can use to assess the impacts of current policies and plans on their vulnerability to natural hazards. The publication also describes the principles of safe growth, guidance on the process for conducting an audit, and a case study of how a coastal community used the audit.

Coastal No Adverse Impact Handbook

This handbook, published by the NOAA and the Association of State Floodplain Managers, describes No Adverse Impact concepts and a series of "building blocks" that coastal communities can use to help minimize risks from coastal hazards while maximizing benefits from the coastal environment. The document includes discussion on levels of protection, from minimum government standards to the NAI approach.

Coastal Construction Manual & Resources

The Coastal Construction Manual, produced by FEMA, provides information on how to design and site buildings while accommodating hazards associated with coastal communities. Accompanying resources include " A Homebuilders Guide to Coastal Construction," Local official's guide for Coastal Construction," and "Recommended Residential Construction for Coastal Areas," among others.

Natural Hazards and Sustainability for Residential Buildings

This resource, produced by FEMA, describes methods for incorporating green building design into construction of new buildings that also increases resiliency. The guide describes ways to integrate sustainability without compromising resistance to natural hazards.

Best Practices Manual for Development in Coastal Louisiana

This guide, produced by the Center for Planning Excellence and the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, gives advice to Louisiana communities about coastal development. The resource defines "geotypes" specific to Louisiana's coastal geographic areas, and provides specific information on implementation and local ordinances for each geotype.

StormSmart Coasts

StormSmart Coasts, sponsored by the Stormsmart Coasts Network, is a resource for coastal decision makers looking for the latest and best information on how to protect their communities from weather and climate hazards. This website includes state pages (with links to state-specific resources) for planning, regulations/standards, mitigation, and infrastructure, among others.

Achieving Hazard-Resilient Coastal and Waterfront Smart Growth (download report)

NOAA and EPA’s report presents ideas shared by smart growth and hazard mitigation experts related to building hazard-resilient coastal communities.

APA Zoning Practice, January 2011, Number 1: Coastal Hazards and Smart Growth

The American Planning Association's January 2011 Zoning Practice proposes ideas on how smart growth approaches including compact design could result in greater resilience to coastal hazards.

Hazard Mitigation: Integrating Best Practices into Planning

This American Planning Association guide, produced with support from FEMA, describes strategies for integrating hazard mitigation into comprehensive plans and implementation tools. The guide also includes cases studies from a variety of communities.

Planning for a Sustainable Future: The Link Between Hazard Mitigation and Livability

This FEMA booklet provides an overview of how communities can incorporate sustainability concepts into mitigation planning phases during pre-disaster and post- disaster planning.

Protecting Florida's Communities: Land Use Planning Strategies and Best Development Practices for Minimizing Vulnerability to Flooding and Coastal Storms

This Florida Department of Economic Opportunity Guide provides a step-by-step process for Florida communities to integrate hazard mitigation policies into a comprehensive plan. This resource also includes planning and best practices for reducing community vulnerability, maintaining and enhancing natural protective features, and managing development and redevelopment.

Optional Comprehensive Plan Element For Natural Hazard Reduction

This guide from the Washington State Department of Community, Trade, and Economic Development (now the Washington State Department of Commerce) provides a process for developing a local hazard mitigation element of a comprehensive plan.

State Disaster Recovery Planning Guide

The Department of Homeland Security and the Coastal Hazards Center at The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill provide information on developing a state-level disaster recovery plan. The guide includes for implementing a planning process, best practices used in some states, questions to help assess current practices in a state, and potential actions to address issues identified.

Post-Disaster Redevelopment Planning: A Guide for Florida Communities

This guide published by the Florida Department of Community Affairs (now the Department of Economic Opportunity) and the Florida Division of Emergency Management provides a roadmap for planning for post-disaster recovery, including an overview of the planning process, key ingredients for success, and implementation considerations.

There is also an addendum, Post-Disaster Redevelopment Planning: Addressing Adaptation During Long-term Recovery that addresses planning for the effects of sea level rise. It looks at a range of adaptation strategies, with a focus on Palm Beach, Florida.

Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery: Next Generation

This web page by the American Planning Association is part of the project to update the classic guide "Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction." The site provides practitioners with resources for planning for post-disaster recovery and reconstruction, including news and case studies.

Long-Term Community Recovery Planning Process: A Self-Help Guide

This guide, produced by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, provides state, tribal and local government officials and other interested parties with a framework for conducting a long-term community recovery planning process after a disaster strikes. It includes step-by-step recommendations for implementing long-term community recovery planning, as well as multiple case studies.

Build Back Safer and Smarter

This website, with content provided by the Natural Hazard Mitigation Association, provides information about a nine-step process to better prepare damaged communities for future disasters. It includes comments about and links to available resources for each step.

Holistic Disaster Recovery: Ideas for Building Local Sustainability after a Natural Disaster

This handbook, published by the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado at Boulder, addresses sustainable redevelopment and holistic approaches to disaster recovery. Included are in-depth looks at options, tools, actions, and case studies related to incorporating sustainability into disaster recovery, including by incorporating participatory processes, community quality of life and environmental considerations, economic vitality, social and intergenerational equity, and disaster resilience.

Rebuilding for a More Sustainable Future: An Operational Framework

This FEMA guide describes how communities come out stronger by integrating the concepts and principles of sustainable development into each phase of planning for hazards: preparedness and prevention, recovery and reconstruction. In addition to outlining principles, it lists some related resources that existed at the time it was published, in 2000.