Abstract

Why do some cities bounce back quickly after a disaster or terrorist attack while other communities never really recover? What role individually and collectively does government, private sector, non-governmental and volunteer organizations, and civil society play in building and bolstering resilience? How are infrastructures, systems and networks tied into community resilience? If it is possible to develop standards and guidelines for building resilience, what incentives can be devised to have them widely adopted by a community? The presentation will address each of these questions, drawing from recent case studies.

About the Speaker

Dr Stephen Flynn is Professor of Political Science and the Founding Director of the Center for Resilience Studies at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. Before arriving at Northeastern in the fall of 2011, he served as President of the Center for National Policy and spent a decade as Senior Fellow for National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. In 2008, he served as the lead homeland security policy adviser for the Presidential Transition Team for President Barack Obama. Dr Flynn was an active duty commissioned officer in the U.S. Coast Guard for 20 years, including two tours as commanding officer at sea. He is the author of The Edge of Disaster: Rebuilding a Resilient Nation (Random House, 2007), and America the Vulnerable (HarperCollins 2004). He is the principal for Stephen E. Flynn Associates LLC, which provides independent advisory services on improving enterprise resilience, critical infrastructure protection, and transportation and maritime security.