Bibliography: Section 1. Holistic Disaster Recovery

1. Introduction to Sustainability

- Where To Find Information -

Training Courses and Workshops

Federal Emergency Management Agency, Emergency Management Institute, Higher Education Project Courses. Emmitsburg, Maryland. http://www.fema.gov/emi/edu/aem_courses.htm [accessed June 15, 2001] (301) 447-1233 or email Barbara Johnson: barbara.l.Johnson@fema.gov

"Building Disaster Resilient and Sustainable Communities." Course developed by Raymond Burby. http://www.fema.gov/emi/edu/bldcomm.htm [accessed June 15, 2001]

Organizations

American Planning Association
The APA is a non-profit organization representing "30,000 practicing planners, officials, and citizens involved with urban and rural planning issues. Sixty-five percent of APA's members are employed by state and local government agencies." APA's mission is to "encourage planning that will contribute to public well-being by developing communities and environments that meet the needs of people and society more effectively." The website is an excellent source of books about community planning that incorporate the principles of sustainable development.
See http://www.planning.org [accessed June 15, 2001]

Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development
The CESD website is a project of the Denver Regional Office of Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Since 1995, the CESD website has offered users access to comprehensive resources on community sustainability. It is an excellent source for resources on sustainable development.
See http://www.sustainable.doe.gov [accessed June 29, 2001]

Minnesota Sustainable Communities Network (MnSCN)
MnSCN, sponsored by the Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance, seeks to "encourage networking, information exchange, and better access to assistance." The network contains over 1500 individuals, businesses, local governments, educational institutions, and organizations who are interested in promoting sustainability in Minnesota.
See http://www.nextstep.state.mn.us/index.cfm [accessed June 22, 2001]

Redefining Progress
Redefining Progress is an organization that "seeks to ensure a more sustainable and socially equitable world for our children and our children's children." Information about the group's sustainability program is available on its website.
See http://www.rprogress.org [accessed June 15, 2001]

Sustainable Development Communications Network
In addition to over 1,200 documents about sustainable development, this website has a calendar of events, a job bank, the Sustainability Web Ring, a roster of mailing lists (listservs) and news sites dealing with sustainable development.
See http://sdgateway.net [accessed September 21, 2001]

Videos, CD-ROMs, and DVDs

Quality Redevelopment of Eastern North Carolina. Horizon Video Productions. 2000. Durham, NC.
This 20-minute video was produced by the state in the aftermath of Hurricane Floyd to introduce and educate local and state officials about the "better ways" available to recover from the disaster and at the same time address other local concerns such as environmental quality, economic vitality, housing, sense of community, business and job opportunities, and disaster mitigation. It introduced a framework espoused by the state for sustainable community action and features the governor explaining the tenets of "quality redevelopment" and how it can--and did--benefit North Carolina communities and help ensure a better future for the state's citizens. Available from North Carolina Department of Emergency Management, 1830-B Tillery Place, Raleigh, NC 27699; (919) 751-8000; fax: (919) 715-9763.

Planning for Natural Hazards: Oregon Technical Resource Guide. Oregon Natural Hazards Workshop. 2000. University of Oregon: Oregon Natural Hazard Workshop.
The purpose of the project leading to this resource guide was to "develop...technical resource guides for Oregon cities and counties to plan for, and limit the effects of, threats posed by natural hazards." More information about the guide in available on-line at http://www.uoregon.edu/~onhw/text/projects/tfeatured.html [accessed June 22, 2001]

The Link Between Sustainability & Disaster Resistant Communities. Slide show produced by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. http://www.sustainable.doe.gov/disaster/impact [accessed July 23, 2001]
This slide show explains the concept of sustainable redevelopment and gives examples of redevelopment in three communities: Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin; Valmeyer, Illinois; and Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

Mitigation Revitalizes a Floodplain Community: The Darlington Story. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. 1997. Madison, WI.
This is a splendidly produced videotape about the efforts of a small rural Wisconsin community to reverse the effects of neglect and disinvestment in its historic downtown area caused by repeated flooding and economic change. Using a multi-objective planning and management strategy, officials and citizens, in partnership with government agencies and private entities, identified six goals: 1) preserve the historic character of the downtown; 2) restore community pride; 3) acquire and relocate commercial properties at risk; 4) elevate and flood proof commercial and residential structures; 5) stimulate investment downtown; and 6) pursue tourism as an economic strategy. The video follows the mitigation process from early meetings through floodproofing and relocation. Produced by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. 27 minutes. 1997. Available free from Wisconsin DNR, P.O. Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707-7921; (608) 264-9200.

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Books, Articles, and Papers

Arnold, Matthew B. and Robert M. Day. 1998. The Next Bottom Line: Making Sustainable Development Tangible. Washington, D.C.: WRI Publications. 64 pp.
This report tries to bring sustainable development down to earth for a business audience. Its authors seek to break down the abstract ideals of sustainable development into ideas small enough to grasp and powerful enough to lead to new business opportunities. The authors offer a road map for businesses to find financial success in the solutions to our environmental and social challenges.

Becker, William S. and Roberta F. Stauffer. 1994. Rebuilding the Future-A Guide to Sustainable Redevelopment for Disaster-Affected Communities. Golden, CO: U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Center of Excellence for Sustainable Development. 18 pp.
This document summarizes why sustainability is important and gives an example of sustainable development in one community, Soldiers Grove, Wisconsin. The reader is walked step-by-step through the sustainable recovery process. The last chapter discusses real-life problems the planner may encounter, and an appendix contains a comprehensive list of resources. This document is available online at http://www.sustainable.doe.gov/articles/RFTF1.shtml [accessed June 15, 2001]

Berke, Philip R. and Jack Kartez. 1994. Sustainable Development as a Guide to Community Land Use Policy: A Conceptual Framework. HRRC Publication 37P. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University, College of Architecture, Hazard Reduction & Recovery Center. 25 pp.
The authors explore how "sustainable development" can be used to describe the common good in land use and development and present a set of principles for land use policy formation. Principles for land use policy that the report identifies are: 1) include public participation in the decisionmaking process; 2) build consensus through conflict resolution mechanisms; 3) build local decisionmaking on a realistic capacity to carry out policies; 4) recognize local rights to devise rules for guiding human settlement patterns; 5) land use policy must work in harmony with nature and recognize the limits of ecosystems; 6) the built environment should be in harmony with people's needs and aspirations; 7) realistic land use policy must be able to alleviate local poverty and account for the least advantaged; 8) polluters, or culpable parties/corporations, must pay for the adverse affects they have imposed on ecosystems; and 9) responsible regional planning needs to be promoted.

Berke, Philip and Maria Manta. 1999. Planning for Sustainable Development: Measuring Progress in Plans. Lincoln Institute of Land Policy Working Paper. Lincoln, NE: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. 23 pp.
Using six principles that define and operationalize the concept of sustainable development, the authors evaluated 30 comprehensive plans to determine how well the policies of these plans supported sustainable development. Findings indicate no significant differences in how extensively sustainability principles were supported between plans that state an intention to integrate sustainable development and those that did not. In addition, plans did not provide balanced support of all six sustainability principles; they supported one-the livable built environment principle-significantly more than the others.

Burby, Raymond J., ed. 1998. Cooperating with Nature: Confronting Natural Hazards with Land-Use Planning for Sustainable Communities. Washington, D.C.: The Joseph Henry Press. 356 pp. Available at http://www.nap.edu/catalog/5785.html. [accessed September 21, 2001]
This book focuses on the breakdown in sustainability that follows disaster. The authors follow the history of land use planning and identify key components of sustainable planning for hazards. The authors explain why sustainability and land use have not been taken into account in the formulation of public policy. They also lay out a vision of sustainability, concrete suggestions for policy reform, and procedures for planning. The volume has an excellent bibliography on local land use planning and management for natural hazard mitigation.

Burby, Raymond J., Timothy Beatley, Philip R. Berke, Robert E. Deyle, Steven P. French, David R. Godschalk, Edward J. Kaiser, Jack D. Kartez, Peter J. May, Robert Olshansky, Robert G. Paterson, and Rutherford H. Platt. 1999. "Unleashing the Power of Planning to Create Disaster-Resistant Communities." Journal of the American Planning Association 65 (Summer).
Human suffering and loss of lives and property in natural disasters can be reduced with appropriate planning for hazardous areas. However, the authors of this paper assert that federal policies addressing these problems have yet to recognize the importance of planning as the cornerstone of effective local hazard mitigation. In fact, federal programs make planning more difficult, the authors suggest, because they encourage the intensive use of hazardous land and shield local governments and private decisionmakers from financial losses in the disasters that inevitably follow. To use planning for hazard mitigation, federal policies must be revised so that they help build local understanding of risk, commitment to hazard mitigation, and support for planning.

Casey-Lefkowitz. 1999. Smart Growth in the Southeast: New Approaches for Guiding Development. Washington, D.C.: Environmental Law Institute Research Publications.
The southeastern United States has been trying to find ways to continue to reap the benefits of the region's bustling economy without the mounting fiscal, health, and environmental costs of poorly planned development. This report provides an overview of land use and transportation trends in seven states-Alabama, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia-and shows how these states are beginning to shape the pace and location of development by promoting community revitalization, conservation, and transportation alternatives.

Civil Engineering 63(10)(October 1993): 39-76.
This topical journal issue begins with an essay by John Prendergast titled, "Engineering Sustainable Development." Following this are nine articles that describe projects that incorporate principles and current practices used by the civil engineering profession in its efforts to achieve sustainable development. Topics explored include reusing stormwater runoff, geogrid reinforcement to solve hillside erosion, and solving local wastewater treatment problems.

Darmstadter, Joel. 1994. Global Development and the Environment: Perspectives on Sustainability. Washington, D.C.: Resources for the Future.
The first two essays in this volume set the stage for considering requirements to develop sustainably by, first, explaining the problem of global population growth, and second, discussing how to move from sustainability as a concept to a reality. The remainder of the essays in the book discuss individual issues such as fairness; practical difficulties; the future of specific natural resources such as water, agriculture, and energy; climate variability and its effect on agriculture; climate change and carrying capacity; and biodiversity and carrying capacity.

Federal Emergency Management Agency. 1997. Project Impact Guidebook. Building a Disaster Resistant Community. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.
This handbook is designed to help communities protect residents, organizations, businesses, infrastructure, and stability and growth of the economy as much as possible against the impact of natural disasters before they happen.

Federal Emergency Management Agency. 2000. Planning for a Sustainable Future: The Link Between Hazard Mitigation and Livability. FEMA Report 364. Washington, D.C.: Federal Emergency Management Agency. 40 pp. Available at http://www.fema.gov/mit/planning_toc.htm [accessed September 21, 2001]
This booklet is about hazard mitigation, disaster resilience, sustainable development and livability, and describes the linkages among these concepts. It shows how communities that undertake hazard mitigation planning become more disaster resilient and reap further benefits. Hazard mitigation links disaster resilience to broad community objectives of economic health, social well-being, and environmental protection.

Federal Emergency Management Agency. 2000. Rebuilding for a More Sustainable Future: An Operational Framework. FEMA Report 365. Washington, D.C.: Federal Emergency Management Agency. Available at http://www.fema.gov/mit/planning_toc2.htm. [accessed September 21, 2001]
This document provides guidance to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Sustainability Planner in the post-disaster response and recovery process. State emergency management officials, local jurisdictions, and other FEMA staff may also use it as a reference during non-disaster time.

Hart, Maureen. 1999. Guide to Sustainable Community Indicators. 2nd edition. North Andover, MA: Hart Environmental Data. 202 pp.
The document identifies indicators of sustainable community: ways to measure how well a community is meeting the needs and expectations of its present and future members. The author explains what indicators are, how indicators relate to sustainability, how to identify good indicators of sustainability, and how indicators can be used to measure progress toward building a sustainable community. A website contains the information in the document, plus links and contact information for sources of assistance and advice, along with a list of communities in the United States that are developing indicators of sustainability: http://www.sustainablemeasures.com [accessed June 15, 2001]

Krizek, Kevin J. and Joe Power. 1996. Planners Guide to Sustainable Development. Chicago, IL and Washington, D.C.: APA Planning Advisory Service. 66 pp.
This report urges planners to incorporate sustainable development objectives into their everyday work. It describes the history, concepts, and theories behind sustainable development; evaluates progress at the global, national, and state levels; and proposes strategies to help planners become more actively involved in local sustainable development programs. The book includes case studies of sustainable development initiatives in five communities.

May, Peter J., Raymond J. Burby, Neil J. Ericksen, John W. Handmer, Jennifer E. Dixon, Sarah Michaels, and D. Ingle Smith. Environmental Management and Governance: Intergovernmental Approaches to Hazards and Sustainability. New York: Routledge. 254 pp.
The book addresses aspects of environmental management that raise fundamental questions about human actions and government roles. The authors examine "cooperative" and "coercive" governments by comparing polices in New Zealand and Australia with the more coercive and prescriptive approaches used in the U.S. They also focus on how the different regimes influence choices by local governments about land use and development in areas subject to natural hazards. Separate chapters are devoted to growth management in Florida, resource management in New Zealand, and flood management in New South Wales. Other chapters describe how policy design is implemented, the role of regional governments, policy compliance and innovation at the local planning level, strategies for sustainable development, and examine the outcomes of cooperative policies.

Mazmanian, Daniel A. and Michael E. Kraft, eds. 1999. Toward Sustainable Communities: Transition and Transformations in Environmental Policy. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press. 322 pp.
This book reviews and assesses environmental policy over the past three decades, primarily in the United States but with implications for other nations. The editors place U.S. environmental policy within the framework of the transition from 1970s-era policies that emphasized federally controlled regulation, through a period of criticism and efficiency-based reform efforts, to an emerging era of sustainability in which decisionmaking takes place increasingly at the local and regional levels. The book looks at what does and does not work and how social, economic, and environmental goals can be integrated through policy strategies ground in the concept of sustainability.

McElfish. 1999. Sustainability in Practice. Washington, D.C.: Environmental Law Institute Research Publications.
As sustainable development becomes one of our nation's top priorities, how are U.S. communities envisioning and implementing their sustainability goals? This report identifies trends in community sustainable development efforts based on nearly 600 applications for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Sustainable Development Challenge Grant Program. It features a variety of charts and graphs that identify popular subject areas, partnerships, the urban and rural breakdown, tools, and goals of these projects. It also includes descriptions of funded projects.

Mileti, Dennis S. 1999. Disasters by Design. Washington, D.C.: The Joseph Henry Press. 351 pp. Available at http://books.nap.edu/catalog/5782.html. [accessed September 21, 2001]
This book is a summary volume of the Second National Assessment of Research on Natural Hazards with the formal mission of summarizing what is known in the various fields of science and engineering that is applicable to natural and related technological hazards in the United States, and making some research and policy recommendations for the future. It summarizes the hazards research findings from the last two decades, synthesizes what has been learned, and outlines a proposed shift in direction in research and policy for natural and related technological hazards in the United States. Disasters by Design is intended for a general audience, including policy makers and practitioners.

National Research Council. 1999. Our Common Journey: A Transition toward Sustainability. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press. 363 pp.
This report of the National Academy of Sciences' three-year Global Commons Project documents large-scale historical currents of social and environmental change and reviews methods for "what if" analysis of possible future development pathways and their implications for sustainability. The book also identifies the greatest threats to sustainability-in areas such as human settlements, agriculture, industry, and energy-and explores what the Board perceives to be the most promising opportunities for circumventing or mitigating these threats. It goes on to discuss what indicators of change, from childrens' birth-weights to atmospheric chemistry, will be most useful in monitoring a transition to sustainability.

North Carolina Emergency Management Division and Federal Emergency Management Agency. 2000. Hazard Mitigation in North Carolina: Measuring Success. Raleigh, NC.
To accelerate the institutionalization of hazard mitigation in North Carolina, the North Carolina Emergency Management Division established the Hazard Mitigation Planning Initiative, a long-term program to build local capacity to implement mitigation policies and programs in communities across the state. Through a series of case studies, this study documents losses avoided as a result of the implementation of a wide range of mitigation measures, including elevations and the acquisition and relocation or demolition of floodprone properties.

Schwab, Jim; Kenneth C. Topping, Charles C. Eadie, Robert E. Deyle, and Richard A. Smith. 1998. Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction. PAS Report No. 483/484. Chicago, IL: American Planning Association. 346 pp. Abstract available at http://www.planning.org/apapubs/details.asp?Num=1178. [accessed September 21, 2001]
This document helps community leaders and planners educate their constituents on how informed decisions and choices can affect the rebuilding process and yield a safer, more sustainable community. This report introduces planners to their roles in post-disaster reconstruction and recovery, and provides guidance on how to plan for post-disaster reconstruction side by side with all other players involved. A key theme throughout this report is to rebuild to create a more disaster-resilient community. The report contains many references to technical resources.

U.S. National Science and Technology Council. 1994. Technology for a Sustainable Future: A Framework for Action. Washington, D.C.: U.S. National Science and Technology Council. 154 pp.
This report summarizes the Clinton White House's plan for developing a comprehensive environmental technology strategy. It examines the use of environmental technologies to facilitate long-term environmental, energy, and economic goals and asks for suggestions for improving federal policies related to advancing environmental technologies. It includes a section on technology needs for natural disaster reduction. The document also provides examples of avoidance, monitoring and assessment, and remediation and restoration. Appendices contain lists of federal sources for agency offices (names, contact information) and online data resources.

U.S. President's Council on Sustainable Development. 1997. Sustainable Communities Task Force Report. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 186 pp.
This report and its companion volume, Sustainable America: A New Consensus for Prosperity, Opportunity, and a Healthy Environment for the Future, published in 1996, lay out a set of policy recommendations for planning for sustainable communities. One of the recommendations is to "shift the focus of the federal disaster relief system from cure to prevention." The appendix contains case studies of communities that have set forth sustainability principles, profiles of communities in the 50 states, state-led sustainability initiatives and organizations, and a list of resources for sustainable communities.

Wilhite, Donald, Deborah A. Wood, and Kelly Helm Smith. n.d. Planning for a Sustainable Future: The Case of the North American Great Plains. IDIC Technical Report Series 95-1. Lincoln, Nebraska: International Drought Information Center.
The participants at this symposium addressed the complex economic, social, and environmental issues facing the Great Plains region in anticipation of climate change in the years to come. In addition to essays on sustainable development and global change policies, the volume contains four case studies that deal with sustainable land use, education and research agendas, the Groundwater Guardian Program, and the use of reverse engineering to enhance the lessons learned over the past eight decades. Also included are focus group reports on agricultural production, land and water resources, human and community resources, biological resources and biodiversity, and integrated resource management.

World Bank. 1994. Making Development Sustainable. Environmentally Sustainable Development Occasional Papers Series. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. 270 pp.
Eight essays attempt to capture current thought on a number of key conceptual, methodological, and practical issues. The authors cover poverty and the environment; gender and ecosystem management; the sociologist's, economist's, and ecologist's approaches to sustainable development; the integration of environmental concerns into development policy making; the World Bank's agenda for the environment; and an epilogue regarding the expansion of capital stock.

World Commission on Environment and Development. 1987. Our Common Future. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
In 1983, the World Commission on Environment and Development was asked by the United Nations General Assembly to formulate "a global agenda for change." This document, also known as the Brundtland Report, is the report of the Committee chaired by Gro Harlem Brundtland. The Committee undertook to: 1) propose long-term environmental strategies for achieving sustainable development by the year 2000 and beyond; 2) recommend ways concern for the environment may be translated into greater cooperation among developing countries and between countries at different stages of economic and social development and lead to the achievement of common and mutually supportive objectives that take account of the interrelationships between people, resources, environment, and development; 3) consider ways and means by which the international community can deal more effectively with environmental concerns; and 4) help define shared perceptions of long-term environmental issues and the appropriate efforts needed to deal successfully with the problems of protecting and enhancing the environment, a long-term agenda for action during the coming decades, and aspirational goals for the world community.

Additional Reading

Beatley, Timothy. 1995. Planning and Sustainability: The Elements of a New (Improved?) Paradigm. HRRC Publication No. 132A. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University, College of Architecture, Hazard Reduction & Recovery Center. 13 pp.

Berke, Philip R., Jack D. Kartez, and Dennis E. Wenger. 1993. "Recovery after Disaster: Achieving Sustainable Development, Mitigation and Equity." Disasters 17(2):93-109.

Clark, William C. 2001. "America's National Interests in Promoting a Transition to Sustainability: Issues for the New U.S. Administration." Environment 43(1)(January/February):18-27.

Reid, David. 1995. Sustainable Development: An Introductory Guide. London: Earthscan Publications. 261 pp.

World Commission on Environment and Development. 1987. Our Common Future. New York: Oxford University Press. (The Brundtland report.) Abstract available at http://www.oup.co.uk/isbn/0-19-282080-X.