hazards

The Texas A&M College of Architecture is producing 3D printed surgical face shields for the emergency department at a local hospital. It is hoped that the pilot project will help lessen the critical shortage of protective gear for healthcare workers.

Leading campus disaster recovery and hazard scholars will explore recent and ongoing research on Hurricane Harvey and disaster resilience at Resilience Rising: Research and Practice on Harvey and Hazards of the Future Sept. 5-6 at Texas A&M’s Rudder Tower.

Seemingly rational choices, made in the wake of natural disasters, can produce unsound results due to “uncanny wisdom,” a term, coined by a Texas A&M urban planning professor, describing actions that eventually exacerbate problems they were meant to solve.

As La Grange, Texas recovers from post Hurricane Harvey flooding, residents and elected officials are considering Texas A&M student proposals that address the town’s infrastructure, housing and transportation needs.

In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, two Texas A&M groups have teamed up to launch the Community Resilience Collaborative, a program aimed at bolstering the resilience of the state’s coastal communities to natural hazards and at restoring their habitats and ecosystems.

A Texas A&M research team is investigating how coastal municipal planners can respond to increasing flood threats in rapidly growing coastal communities and build sustainable and healthy ecosystems using “green” stormwater management methods.

The myriad achievements of two former Texas A&M urban planning students have elevated them to the American Institute of Certified Planners’ College of Fellows, one of the profession’s highest honors.

Texas A&M at SXSW, a March 11-14, 2018 showcase of university faculty and research at South by Southwest, the annual Austin mega-event that celebrates the convergence of creative industries, will include a panel of visualization professors discussing technology.

The field of urban planning is gaining interest as cities around the world, including nearby Houston, are facing increased exposure to weather-related risks and hazards ranging from sea level rise and flooding to temperature build-up and urban heat island effect.

In the nation’s capital, congressional staff and professional meterologists heard Phil Berke, professor of urban planning, present research-based strategies aimed at heightening communities’ ability to withstand and recover from natural disasters.

Editor’s note: Texas lawmakers heard Shannon Van Zandt, professor of urban planning, describe the significant housing difficulties low-and moderate-income people face as they recover from devastation caused by August 2017’s Hurricane Harvey.

Municipalities are more responsive to natural disaster plans that focus on a single threat, such as flooding, than they are to comprehensive resiliency strategies, according to a study evaluating how U.S. cities are adapting to the impacts of climate change.

As tens of thousands of Texans undergo a long, difficult recovery from Hurricane Harvey, numerous faculty and students initiatives at Texas A&M University are helping individuals and communities learn how to emerge from the damage and mitigate the effects of future disasters.

Houston's growth has created a city at risk to devastating floods, said Sam Brody, a flood impact expert and professor of urban planning at Texas A&M, in a June 16, 2017 article in The Guardian, where he said “it’s not if, but when” a natural disaster will strike the metropolis.

Residents of Sunnyside, a Houston area neighborhood beset by water and air pollution and prone to flooding, will collaborate with College of Architecture students to develop plans to improve their community and create a roadmap for future growth.