The Creation of an Open Space Management Guide for Fema

Education

The Creation of an Open Space Management Guide for Fema

Funded Buyout Properties and Injecting the Study and Practice of Buyouts into the Graduate Program

Project Dates: 2021 – 2022

Summary

This project will focus on the development and distribution of an Open Space Management Guide for home buyout properties and incorporate the findings into the Graduate Certificate Program in Disaster Resilient Policy, Engineering, and Design. The guide, developed in partnership with a range of end-users, will blend policy and design approaches created to meet the needs of those engaged in the management of open space following FEMA-funded buyouts. The Open Space Management Guide will be incorporated into lecture and studio-based courses that are part of the Graduate Certificate in Disaster Resilient Policy, Engineering, and Design and other courses as identified. The guide will be disseminated to practitioners and academics as part of a strategy developed in partnership with FEMA Mitigation staff, State Hazard Mitigation Officers (SHMOs), Emergency Management Institute Higher Education Project Manager, American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and American Planning Association (APA), land trusts, and others as identified.

Investigator

Dr. Gavin Smith
Dr. Gavin Smith
North Carolina State University

Other Research Participants/Partners

  • FEMA staff, including Eric Letvin, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Mitigation, Brian Willsey, and members of the National Mitigation Investment Strategy Implementation Team, Dr. Jae Park AECOM, FEMA Mitigation contractor, buyout expert, and CRC Board member
  • Andy Fox – Professor Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, Director Coastal Dynamics Design Lab NC State, Travis Klondike – Assistant Research Professor, Coastal Dynamics Design Lab NC State
  • State Hazard Mitigation Officers (SHMOs)
  • Local government officials involved in past buyouts
  • NC State graduate students, including Olivia Vila – PhD candidate, Parks, Recreation & Tourism Management; Brian Vaughn – Master’s Student, Landscape Architecture; Claire Henkle – Master’s Student, Landscape Architecture; Samata Gyawali – Master’s Student, Landscape
    Architecture; Samiksha Bhattarai – Master’s Student, Landscape Architecture
  • American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and the American Planning Association (APA) (select divisions focused on disaster resilience).