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Urban and Regional Planning Graduate ProgramUniversity of Illinois at ChicagoHazard Mitigation and Disaster RecoverySpring Semester 2009Instructor InformationJames C. Schwab, AICP, Co-InstructorPhone: 312-786-6364 (office)e-mail: [email protected] [email protected] Richard Roths, AICP, Co-InstructorPhone: 312-596-6728 (office)[email protected] SummaryThe intent of this course is to examine the two key areas of hazard-related policy that provide urban planners with significant opportunities for intervention in the public decision-making process. The entire spectrum of public involvement in issues related to hazards and natural disasters includes contributions from a wide range of actors–police and fire officials, emergency managers, elected officials, public health workers, public works managers, environmental scientists, engineers, and others. Too often, in too many communities, planners have left decisions related to hazards and disaster recovery to other agencies and professions without closely examining the strategic points at which their own intervention could make a positive difference. Many expert observers recently have cited Hurricane Katrina as a classic illustration of the catastrophic results of the lack of effective planning intervention in key decisions affectingcommunity vulnerability. This course aims to help future planners distinguish the specific fields of public-sector activity in which planners can contribute unique expertise that will help to make communities safer and more resilient in the face of natural and other disasters.Course ObjectivesThis course is designed to fulfill the essential needs of graduate planning students for a solid background in both the theory and practical experience of modern communities in addressing theissues of pre- and post-disaster hazard mitigation and disaster recovery. The operating assumption behind the course is that, while other aspects of natural hazards and disaster policy will be discussed, and a broad context will be provided, hazard mitigation and disaster recovery are the two specific areas in which planners have both the tools and the expertise to make the greatest difference in public policy and its implementation at all levels of government. Given the risks that thousands of communities face throughout the U.S., as well as those in other parts of the world where some graduates may choose to work, it is vital that planners learn how to address such issues. Public safety is, after all, central to the legal and constitutional justifications for public planning.With that in mind, the course objectives include:1. Understanding of the elements of the cycle of mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery that surrounds natural disaster events;2. Understanding of the specific points of intervention within that cycle where planners can play a meaningful role in shaping public policy to create safer and more resilient communities;3. Understanding of the legal and statutory underpinnings of planning intervention related tohazard mitigation, emergency response, and disaster recovery at the federal, state, and local levels of government;4. Learning working definitions of essential terms in the disaster field such as risk, hazard, vulnerability, mitigation, recovery, and long-term reconstruction;5. Development of a working knowledge of the role of hazard mitigation in improving public safety, including substantial familiarity with the range of planning tools (zoning, retrofit incentives, building codes, relocation, etc.) available to implement mitigation, andwith the strategic opportunities for incorporating mitigation into the post-disaster recovery process;6. Knowledge of the techniques for motivating public involvement in hazard mitigation and including local stakeholder participation in the mitigation planning process;7. Understanding of the human, political, and administrative dynamics of the process of response, recovery, and long-term reconstruction following both typical and catastrophic disasters, specifically including the development of local and regional recovery plans, and the evolution and development of that process in recent years.Texts and ReadingsRequired Texts:Burby, R.J., ed. 1998. Cooperating with Nature: Confronting Natural Hazards with Land-Use Planning for Sustainable Communities. Washington, D.C.: National Academy/Joseph Henry Press. Schwab, James, with Kenneth C. Topping, Charles D. Eadie, Robert E. Deyle, and Richard B. Smith. 1998. Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction. PAS Report No. 483/484.Chicago: American Planning Association. Various other publications will be provided directly by the instructors or will be available from the Internet. Grading PlanHalf of the grade will be based on a mitigation plan project assigned within the first two weeks by the instructors. The mitigation plan project will include worksheets completed throughout thecourse and which will be summarized as part of the plan. In addition to producing a written assignment for this project, the students will use the last class session on May 12, 2009, to do oral presentations of their projects. Individuals will be allowed to team up for larger projects withthe knowledge that grades will be assigned equally to team members. In addition, a major paper will be assigned that will earn 50 percent of the overall grade for the course. The paper will deal with a topic related to disaster recovery.Course ScheduleThe course will consist of 14 three-hour evening classes on Monday in the Spring 2009 semester.The first class will occur on Monday, January 12. These will be taught by both James Schwab, AICP, Senior Research Associate and Manager of the Hazards Planning Research Center for the American Planning Association, and Richard Roths, AICP, Principal Hazard Mitigation Planner for URS Corp., both of whom work in Chicago. Mr. Roths will primarily teach the hazard mitigation material in the first half of the course, while Mr. Schwab will concentrate on teaching the disaster recovery material in the second half. However, due to travel schedules, particular areas of expertise, and other considerations, both may at times be present on particular evenings, and either may appear as needed to maintain the continuity of the course. To the maximum extentpossible, we will advise students at the outset of the course who is expected to instruct on any particular night. Both instructors are


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UIC UPP 594 - Hazard Mitigation and Disaster Recovery

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