Description:

Today’s Bay Area construction projects will endure a host of increasingly extreme climate impacts during their 50 year lifespans. These impacts include higher Bay levels and more frequent and extreme storms, drought, and wildfire, as we still face the ever-present threat of extreme seismic events.

Meanwhile, the cost – in repair and lost productivity – of all extreme events is rising. And even if the climate crisis were halted tomorrow, the current, heightened frequency of severe climate events will batter projects and their communities for years. So, in parallel with our design efforts to mitigate climate change, buildings and their architects must adapt to this new environment.

The AIASF Committee on the Environment is hosting a vital virtual conversation about constructing buildings that surpass the nominal Building Code standard of ‘survivability.’ Four experts – a structural engineer, an owner facing sea-level-rise, a contractor and a wildfire expert – will speak to the progressive value proposition of Adaptation for Resilience. A moderated discussion will follow.

Please join us for this online event during Earth Week’s 50th Anniversary, on John Muir’s birthday, and while we all weather COVID-19 sequestered at home.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize the difference between mitigation and adaptation.
• Identify the ways each member of the building industry can improve adaptation.
• Quantify the economic cost-benefit balance of building beyond the level of survivability towards continuous use.
• Discuss how adaptation supports the at-risk communities that are hardest hit by extreme events.
• Strategize how to engage the public – including the youth movement – in advancing Adaptation for Resilience

About the Speakers:

Moderator

Laurie Johnson, PhD Principal & Founder – Laurie Johnson Consulting, is an internationally-recognized urban planner specializing in disaster recovery and catastrophe risk management. For over 30 years, she has combined her unique blend of professional practice and research to help communities address the complex urban challenges posed by natural hazards and disasters. Much of her post-disaster recovery efforts are captured in her recent book, After Great Disasters: An In-Depth Analysis of How Six Countries Managed Community Recovery (2017). She is also the coauthor of Clear as Mud: Planning for the Rebuilding of New Orleans (2010) which examines the post-disaster recovery policies, plans and planning processes in the City of New Orleans in the first three years following Hurricane Katrina.

Todd Lando Executive Coordinator – FireSAFE Marin, has worked 28 years in the fire service, including 19 as a wildland and municipal firefighter. He studied Forestry and Wildfire Management at the University of Montana and earned a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies and Urban Planning from Sonoma State University. He is the Wildfire Hazard and Vegetation Management Specialist for several Marin fire agencies and was Executive Director of FireSAFE San Mateo County, the nation’s first FireSAFE Council. Todd is an NFPA Certified Wildfire Mitigation Specialist.

Jonathan Buckalew, SE Chair, Resiliency Committee – Structural Engineers Association of Northern California (SEAONC), is a project engineer at Nabih Youssef Structural Engineers in San Francisco. He received his BS and M.Eng from UC Berkeley and is an active member of SEAOC Existing Building Committees, Chair of the SEAONC Resilience Committee, and Co-Chair of the SEAOC Resilience Committee.

Monika Serrano,Sustainability Project Manager – Turner Construction, In her 15 years with Turner Construction, Monika has held several positions in 6 states. Her passion and work in the sustainability sector has remained a constant throughout her career. Resiliency is her main focus in her current role as a Sustainability Project Manager. Monika is a Climate Reality Project Leader, a LEED AP, a Fitwel Ambassador and a member of the USGBC NJ Chapter board of directors. Monika grew up in Caracas, Venezuela and graduated as a mechanical engineer from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania. A 38-time marathon finisher, she lives in New Jersey with her husband and three children.
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<Brian Strong , Chief Resilience Officer – City and County of San Francisco, is responsible for the City’s ten-year Capital Plan, its Capital Budget, and the implementation of the Resilient SF strategic vision as the City’s Chief Resilience Officer and Director of the Office of Resilience and Capital Planning. He created the City’s first multi-year capital plan in 2006 and has been instrumental in the development and passage of $3.5 billion in G.O. bonds to improve San Francisco’s infrastructure. Brian has also implemented a number of innovative resilience programs to protect San Francisco’s infrastructure including the Earthquake Safety and Emergency Response bond program; the nation’s first Sea Level Rise Guidelines; and the first building-by-building HAZUS seismic assessments.

Pricing + Registration

• General Public: $10
• AIA Member: $5
• Student Allied: Free