Thank you for tuning into our first AIA Resilience and Disaster Response (RADR) "ray-dar" "RAD-der!" newsletter! This will be our place to share insight, current events, and future planning for the RADR committee. We also would love to hear your thoughts, comments, and feedback along the way as well. Feel free to reach out and post your comments below.
RADR is the combined forces of the previous Disaster Assistance Committee (DAC) and Resilience & Adaptation Advisory Group (RAD-ag) in the AIA Knowledge Community. The vision of this committee is to equip architects to advance resilience in the built environment and help communities prepare for and respond to shocks, stresses, and disasters. Our central initiatives for 2025 are knowledge building and community engagement.
We are actively building and developing the Resilience Resources database that will be hosted on the AIA website to provide a place to help architects integrate resilience design into their practice, especially those who are helping clients who face new challenges stemming from climate change. Simultaneously we are updating the AIAU Resilience & Adaptation education series that should relaunch later this year.
We are working with AIA chapters and local leaders to establish architects as critical collaborators in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery. This initiative includes training architects in the Safety Assessment Program (SAP) and engaging in the State Disaster Coordinator Network. We also hope to implement Resilience Recovery Advisors to further assist in post-disaster situations. Recent natural disasters such as wildfires are striking communities that had no idea they were at risk and suddenly face massive rebuilding efforts. This advisory group will help chapters understand what to expect after these disasters occur.
This year's AIA Leadership Summit was timely and full of resilience thinking. The recent Los Angeles wildfires identified an acute need for resilience resources and support. We met with AIA component and community leaders from southern California to help collaborate closer. There are also several bills moving through various states and the federal government that aim to increase resilience in our communities that have bipartisan support. Through this time of change in our government, there is an opportunity to collaborate and chart a new path to support communities.
This year we hope to continue our initiatives to develop knowledge resources and equip more architects to prepare, respond, and lead through disaster situations. We hope to collect resilience design case studies from our industry to highlight and inspire resilience design in our communities. We hear the need to protect our clients and communities from an unpredictable future and we have the tools to make this happen.
We look forward to collaborating with you in 2025 and beyond!
Samuel Shams, AIA
Nikolaus T. Remus, AIA