Institutional Support for Combining Multiple Knowledge Systems in Planning for Community Resilience to Natural and Anthropogenic Hazards

Abstract

A given community may be considered as a system of systems (i.e., socio-economic networks and supporting physical infrastructure); if there is failure in one part, it is likely that the entire system will be disrupted. Planning and preparations for and response to natural, human-made and technological hazards often competes with other community priorities. Resilience planning challenges actors relevant to the decision-making process across knowledge systems relevant to the community which span the technical/scientific (e.g., transport networks, utilities), faith-based, NGO, local government, and media, among other sectors. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a six-step process that provides a practical and flexible approach to help community actors to jointly set priorities and allocate resources to manage risks facing the community. This process helps communities think through and plan for their social and economic needs, their hazard risks, and recovery of the built environment by encouraging co-production of knowledge and solutions throughout the resilience planning. This chapter overviews that six-step process and illustrates the first three steps using a case study example in Colorado, USA. The NIST “Economic Decision Guide for Infrastructure Systems” (EDG) is also introduced, as its seven-step process helps the collaborative resilience planning team in a community decide among possible resilience planning alternatives, including market and non-market values. It also introduces the importance of including the co-benefits that accrue to the community as a product of planning for resilience, even when a disaster has not yet occurred.