Spring 2019
Ash Community Speaker Series—Building Resilience after Disaster: Lessons from Florida and Japan
Date & Time: Friday, May 3, 2019, 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Location: Ash Center Foyer, 124 Mount Auburn St., Floor 2, Suite 200N
In recent years, many communities around the world have experienced severe and consequential natural disasters. Join two Harvard students, Laura O’Connell HKS MPP 2019 and Jennifer Kaplan HGSD MUP 2019, to discuss how these affected populations and others are preparing for a growing risk by improving resiliency through planning and policy. O'Connell and Kaplan will present the findings from two research projects they completed, funded in part by the Ash Center.
Financing Climate Resilience: Funding and Financing Models for Building Green and Resilient Infrastructure in Florida
Laura O’Connell, HKS MPP ’19
Florida is increasingly threatened by sea level rise, extreme heat, severe hurricanes, and other climate stresses. Planning and paying for the substantial capital improvements required to improve the resiliency of coastal cities' water, waste, and transportation infrastructure systems is a large challenge for local governments - not to mention the political issues. This presentation covers a four step pathway to more resilient infrastructure, thorough cost-benefit-analysis methods to aid decisions between resilience alternatives, and twelve creative financing models to get projects off the ground.
Rebuilding as Opportunity: Youth Engagement as Planning in Post-Tsunami Japan
Jennifer Kaplan, Co-President, Harvard Urban Planning Organization, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Master in Urban Planning 2019
What role can planners play in supporting the engagement of youth in the physical and social reconstruction of cities that have undergone disaster? This topic is explored in the context of youth engagement through the reconstruction of the Miyagi Prefecture which was devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami on March 11, 2011. My analysis of how, and to what extent, youth were engaged in the reconstruction process is carried out through interviews with former-youth, employees of community-based organizations in Ishinomaki and Onagawa, and additional designers and researchers in the field.
About the Ash Center Community Speaker Series
The Ash Community Speaker Series features discussions with students, faculty, fellows, and alumni whose research or other academic work is supported by the Ash Center. The series is a forum to discuss new ideas, innovative work, and ongoing projects that are related to the Ash Center's mission to make the world a better place by advancing excellence and innovation in governance and public policy through research, education, and public discussion.
Crisis Leadership in Extreme Times: A Discussion with Joe Pfeifer
Date & Time: Thursday, April 11, 2019, 4:30-6:00 PM
Location: Rubenstein-304, Harvard Kennedy School
Join the Crisis Management PIC and the Program on Crisis Leadership (PCL) for a discussion with PCL Senior Fellow Joseph Pfeifer, FDNY Chief of Counterterrorism and Emergency Preparedness (retired), founding director of FDNY's Center for Terrorism and Preparedness, and on-scene commander during 9/11 and multiple other disasters. Chief Pfeifer will provide a presentation on how 9/11 first responders dealt with the multiple intersecting components of the crisis. He will then lead a group discussion on the skills needed for crisis leadership in today’s world of complex disasters.
Refreshments will be provided!
Crisis Management Case Study Exercise: The Three Mile Island Nuclear Incident
Date & Time: Wednesday, March 13, 2019, 6:00-7:30 PM
Location: Wexner 330, Harvard Kennedy School
PCL and the Crisis Management PIC are pleased to announce an interactive crisis management exercise led by Dr. Herman "Dutch" Leonard, faculty co-director of the Program on Crisis Leadership. An expert in organizational leadership and crisis management, Professor Leonard will guide attendees through the US response to the landmark 1979 nuclear plant incident in Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in interactive analysis and decision-making on crisis communications, evacuation, and other key aspects of the case.
The event will start with a brief video on the incident, so no pre-work is required.
Refreshments will be provided!