With support from FEMA’s Cooperating Technical Partners program, the American Planning Association (APA) produced a mitigation and climate action planning resource guide to assist community stakeholders with risk-based mitigation planning to reduce or eliminate risks to life and property from natural hazards.

The report, The Use of Foresight and Scenario Planning in Hazard Mitigation and Climate Adaptation Planning, offers guidance to emergency managers and other stakeholders on how to increase the use of foresight through exploratory scenario planning in both the hazard mitigation and climate adaptation fields. Scenario planning can aid planners in making communities more resilient from future conditions such as extreme weather events. The report states that foresight “is an approach that aims to make sense of the future, understand drivers of change that are outside of our control, look outside the box, and prepare for what may lead to success or failure in the future.” Accordingly, the study offers two case studies of communities successfully employing scenario planning to mitigate risks. Lastly, it provides specific recommendations for planners to implement to increase their organizational or community resilience. Access the full report here.