2012 WORKSHOP:
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| Recent Updates: | The Building Resilience Workshop will be held at the Naval Support Activity Eastbank facility at 4400 Dauphine St. |
| Summaries of Building Resilience Workshop II Panels are now online | |
The challenge of living with water is one shared by deltaic communities around the world. Nowhere is this more apparent than in post-Katrina New Orleans and the Gulf Coast region, where people live with a daily awareness of the threat, and opportunities, of water. The series of Building Resilience Workshops I, II and III have been organized with the goals of identifying and fostering the implementation of innovative and sustainable strategies to reduce New Orleans' and South Louisiana's vulnerability to potentially catastrophic hazards, both natural and man-made, particularly those resulting in severe flooding.
The 2010 Building Resilience Workshop I addressed a broad range of water- and flood-related issues, with discussions centered on sustainable approaches to rebuilding a culture of resilience in southern Louisiana, spurred by impending climate change. The BRW II in 2011 focused on the role that innovative, sustainable infrastructure can play in mitigating catastrophic disaster, both by reducing the risk of harmful consequences from extreme events and by facilitating rapid recovery. The BRW II brought experts from across the globe to share their research on innovative disaster mitigation approaches and transition methodologies that facilitate implementation.
The Building Resilience Workshop III will be held Thursday evening through Saturday afternoon, 15-17 March, 2012.
Highlights of the BRW III:
- The State of Louisiana has recently released its Draft 2012 Coastal Master Plan. One entire day of sessions at the BRW III will focus on the Master Plan and its implications for coastal Louisiana communities. Workshop participants will participate in break-out discussions on the impact of the Master Plan on these communities and their neighbors, and what transitioning strategies will best prepare us all for the changes that the implementation of the Master Plan will bring over the next several decades.
- The Organizing Committee of the pan-European research project FloodProBE, which focuses on developing technologies, methods and tools for urban flood risk assessment and reduction, has chosen to hold their next meeting in New Orleans, specifically to coincide with the Building Resilience Workshop III. The FloodProBE initiative is a partnership of government, industry and NGO interests from the Netherlands, UK, France, Norway, Spain, Czech Republic and Poland. Fourteen members of the FloodProBE project, as well as two of the leaders of the Dutch Room for the River program, will be serving as speakers and panelists at the BRW III, sharing their insights with us.
At the Building Resilience Workshop III we again expect to bring together scientists, environmentalists, architects, engineers, city officials, planners, entrepreneurs, representatives of federal agencies, politicians, grass-roots community organizers, local business interests, academic researchers, students and other stakeholders, all in one room. Together we will learn about innovative strategies from around the world, discuss potential solutions compatible with our unique local ways of life, and create the networks necessary to face the challenges ahead and support the changes we must make to build a culture of sustainability and resilience in south Louisiana.
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