With Fred Presley, AICP and Larry Quick of Resilience Partnership a member company of New Commons

Course Description:

This course will teach the in-depth fundamentals of Resilience Planning. Resilience Planning is a new method and process for planners, that treat communities, regions, and/or states as whole complex adaptive systems. Elements of Ecology, Economics, Built Environment, Education, Social and Cultural Networks are all addressed together as interdependent elements of the system. The process emphasizes a multi-bottom-line, multi-scale approach.

In this context we define resilience as the ability to be flexible, to ‘spring back and forward', to restore, adapt and create to be dynamic, and to provide stability through ‘retuning' when perturbed, or about to be perturbed. This course will introduce the participants to a way of looking at their communities as whole complex systems and create a basis for a greater shared understanding of the conditions, capabilities and networks as the forces that shape a given community.

A resilient community is a community that is able to both go with the flow, and create the flow. It understands that it is not always about remaining the same, but being an integral part of a local and global shift to new norms and forms that are in ‘tune' with ever-changing conditions. To achieve this the community combines as a whole community to consciously align people, place, prosperity and planet in a way that makes sense for the future.

This course is for professional planners engaged in local, regional and/or state planning. These course presents a new methodology for planning in the 21st Century based upon the scientific work of international ecologist in 'Resilience Thinking'. Participants will learn the fundamentals of Resilience Thinking as they relate to planning. Key concepts of the thinking will be reviewed in detail.

Please register online today or call us at 401-351-7110

Fee: $150 for business, $99 for Non-profit and Government. CM 3.00

Program Dates: June 11, 2008 8:30am - 12:00 pm more dates to follow

With Fred Presley, AICP of Resilience Partnership a member company of New Commons

This course will teach the specifics of the practice and process of Resilience Planning in community, and regional planning. Resilience Planning is a new method and process for planners that treats communities, regions, and/or states as whole complex adaptive systems. Participants will learn how the process was engaged in actual case studies in Rhode Island, USA and Western Australia.

Resilient communities are created through a ‘learning in action' approach where groups of community champions are taught the process while applying it to their communities. Through briefings, workshops and coaching communities adopt the principles and process to use to build resilience.

Success is not overnight and requires a steady and staged approach as levels of capability and commitment are reached.

The Resilient Communities Process

The process to establish a resilient community platform is not fixed and requires a different approach to different situations. However in general and simple terms the process addresses eight primary questions:

1. Who and where is the community? Who are the people, and what is the geography involved?
2. What is being proposed and why? What is the problem or opportunity, and what is to be achieved?
3. What conditions are impacting the community? What are the immediate and emergent conditions that the community is facing at a local, regional and global level - at a whole community perspective - social, economic, ecological, cultural, community knowledge and built environments?
4. What level of connectivity exists within the community? Given the proposition and conditions, what are the key networks involved and how collaborative are they?
5. What capability is required? Given the conditions what level of capability is required to achieve the proposition?
6. What other outcomes are possible? Given the capability was created, what value could be added to the original proposition?
7. What catalytic action is most effective and efficient? Given the above, what are the highest return actions to be taken.
8. What conversations need to happen to put and keep this strategy in action? What is the community message, and how will it be generated?

Participants will learn how this framework utilized in several case studies. They will apply what they learned from Resilience 101 and develop a greater understanding and proficiency with the resilience Planning Process.

Please register online today or call us at 401-351-7110

Fee: $150 for business, $99 for Non-profit and Government. CM 3.00

Program Dates: July 16, 2008 8:30am - 12:00 pm more dates to follow