Article Out Loud

A new, publicly available tool provides a window into how future climate realities could affect U.S. cities and towns. Learn how planners and decision-makers can get map-based analyses driven by peer-reviewed climate data using this free portal.

When supply chains were diminished during the coronavirus pandemic, leaders had to find innovative ways to protect their communities. In Texas, they used the Pony Express model to ensure the delivery of personal protective equipment, critical supplies, and vaccines to those in need.

Training is often a check-the-box task. However, it can be difficult to know how much training was learned. Virtual reality and its related analytics provide a way to heighten participation and monitor learning levels for numerous threat scenarios.

With Amtrak’s rail lines spanning communities across the United States (and parts of Canada), it is in a prime position to engage the whole community and to build national resilience. Planning, training, and educational efforts provide a way to bring employees, passengers, and other community stakeholders into the preparedness cycle.

All infrastructure is not the same. Across disciplinary sectors, agencies and organizations must identify the key elements necessary to ensure “a system” (e.g., community) has a minimum level of resilience, as a system is only as strong as the weakest link.

Planners in the Harris County area are successful specifically because of the relationships they have built over many years. For example, the county’s Industrial Liaisons Program provides many positive takeaways and best practices practitioners can implement throughout the U.S. and abroad.