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Rebuilding Infrastructure: Long-Term Community Resilience
May 29 @ 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm PDT
AIA in California Presents….
Rebuilding Infrastructure: Long-Term Community Resilience
AIA in California recognizes the immense challenges facing our city and county in the wake of the tragic and devastating wildfires that have stricken the Los Angeles County region. The swift and equitable rebuilding of homes, businesses, and public infrastructure is paramount while simultaneously ensuring the safety, resilience, and long-term sustainability of our communities.
This webinar will explore the critical role of infrastructure and community support systems in fostering long-term resilience following disasters. Moving beyond individual property rebuilding, we will focus on strategies that strengthen communities as a whole. Topics will include sustainable infrastructure solutions such as green infrastructure and microgrids, as well as approaches to bolstering social networks through resilience hubs and neighborhood emergency plans. We’ll also dive into economic recovery, local business support, and environmental restoration, alongside risk mitigation strategies. Finally, the session will address health and well-being initiatives vital for the recovery of affected communities. Join us for a deep dive into building stronger, more resilient communities that can thrive in the face of future challenges.
Objectives:
- Discuss the design and implementation of sustainable and resilient infrastructure systems.
- Explore methods for enhancing social and community networks to improve disaster preparedness and response.
- Analyze strategies and programs for fostering economic recovery and supporting local businesses post-disaster.
- Review environmental restoration techniques and risk mitigation strategies to minimize future disaster impacts.
- Identify programs and initiatives that support the health and well-being of communities affected by disasters.
(*Virtual on Zoom. Register below to receive the access link)
FEATURED SPEAKERS: (12:00pm – 1:30pm)
- Aaron Vaden-Youmans, AIA – North America Sustainability Lead, Grimshaw
- Heather Joy Rosenberg – Associate Principal, ARUP
- Brittany Moffett – Senior Resilience Engineer, ARUP
- Casey Castor, Assoc. AIA – Director of Sustainability, Practice
Moderated by:
- Greg Kochanowski, AIA, ASLA – Design Principal, Practice & Founder, The Wild: A Research Lab
- Mohamed Sharif, AIA, RIBA – Partner, Sharif, Lynch: Architecture & Director, Undergraduate Program in Architectural Studies and Graduate Program Design Faculty, UCLA Architecture and Urban Design
REGISTER HERE
FEATURED SPEAKERS:
Aaron Vaden-Youmans, AIA – North America Sustainability Lead, Grimshaw
Aaron Vaden-Youmans is the sustainability manager for North America at Grimshaw Architects.
Heather Joy Rosenberg – Associate Principal, ARUP
Heather Rosenberg leads Arup’s Resilience Planning and Policy in the Americas. She provides real-world, implementable solutions to design, policy, and finance at the nexus of resilience, equity, and decarbonization. An ecologist by training, she has more than 25 years of experience helping organizations make better decisions and build internal capacity to respond to disasters. She works extensively with local governments, utilities, and non-profits to better understand the resilience of urban infrastructure and buildings, and how to leverage investments to support frontline communities. Before joining Arup, Heather was the founder and president of her own successful resilience strategy consulting practice, Fifth Road. She created the Building Resilience Network, a multi-stakeholder initiative designed to help public, private, and non-profit organizations weave physical, social, and economic resilience into core operations. She is a USGBC Ginsberg Fellow, is a former mayoral appointee to the Los Angeles Innovation and Performance Commission, and has served on many boards and committees. A lifelong Angeleno, she has been leading Arup’s long-range wildfire recovery effort in Los Angeles.
Brittany Moffett – Senior Resilience Engineer, ARUP
Brittany is a Senior Resilience Engineer based in Arup’s Los Angeles office. Her expertise lies in analyzing and visualizing complex systems to address underlying vulnerabilities and enhance adaptive capacity. Brittany’s work spans different scales, focusing on crucial questions like how individual buildings can contribute to grid resilience and how existing trusted community resources can be equipped to serve as safe havens during escalating climate hazards. Her resilience hub work includes working with cities and non-profits across Southern California setting out to define their vision and retrofit their existing buildings – including libraries, community halls, office buildings, and non-profit campuses. Brittany holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and a Master’s degree in Building Science from USC’s School of Architecture.
Casey Castor, Assoc. AIA – Director of Sustainability, Practice
Casey Castor is the Director of Sustainability at Practice, where he has spent nearly a decade advancing sustainable design in projects across the greater Los Angeles area. With expertise spanning K-12 schools, civic projects, and affordable housing, he integrates building science analysis into every phase of project development. His academic foundation includes an undergraduate in architectural design and a master’s in building science from USC, which has shaped his metrics-driven approach to sustainable design. Casey’s has also co-founded Mack Research, where their team is developing an innovative vertical wall wind technology for energy generation that is currently in R+D. He also collaborates locally as Vice-Chair of AIA|LA’s Committee on the Environment (COTE), he works to advance sustainable design practices, advocating for policies and strategies that harmonize built and natural systems. Through his leadership, Casey is committed to pushing the industry toward innovative, climate-responsive solutions that support long-term environmental resilience.
Moderated by:
Greg Kochanowski, AIA, ASLA – Design Principal, Practice & Founder, The Wild: A Research Lab
Greg is a licensed architect, landscape designer, and educator in California with over 26 years of experience. His work weaves together architecture, landscape, and urbanism to create sustainable, equitable, and innovative environments that honor and enhance the unique qualities of place. Building on this foundation, Greg’s research emphasizes holistic design processes that foster resilience and harmony between natural systems, culture, infrastructure, and development, addressing the complex challenges posed by climate change.
Greg’s work has been featured in venues such as the Venice and Rotterdam Biennales and has received recognition, including the Architectural League of New York’s Young Architects Forum Award and honors from the AIALA, AIAPF, ASLA, and AIACA. He has presented at ASLA and AIA National Conventions, sharing insights on Southern California’s Wildland-Urban Interface and its recurring fire, flood, and debris flow cycles, exploring broader climate impacts across the Western U.S. and globally.
He is the author of The Wild and the upcoming Wildlands in the Expanded Field: Designing in the Pyrocene (Routledge Press, 2026). In connection with issues of wildfire and climate, Greg’s research also delves into affordable housing strategies aimed at addressing pressing social and environmental challenges. This includes innovative ownership models and housing solutions for vulnerable populations, emphasizing equitable, resilient, and sustainable communities.
As Partner and Director of Design at Practice in Pasadena, CA, and Founder of The Wild: A Research Lab, a nonprofit addressing urban climate issues, he advances design research and advocacy by bridging innovative practice with critical research. He currently serves on the Board of Community Design Group and previously served as Co-President of the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design.
Mohamed Sharif, AIA, RIBA – Partner, Sharif, Lynch: Architecture & Director, Undergraduate Program in Architectural Studies and Graduate Program Design Faculty, UCLA Architecture and Urban Design
Mohamed Sharif is an Associate Adjunct Professor at UCLA’s Department of Architecture and Design, where he teaches graduate and undergraduate courses and directs the undergraduate program. Recently, he worked with Professor Hitoshi Abe on a multi-year design research platform focused on resilience and regenerative urbanism.
His practice, Sharif, Lynch: Architecture, with Todd Lynch, has completed several award-winning projects in Los Angeles.
Sharif’s work has been published in journals and periodicals, including 306090, a+u, arq, Constructs, JAE, the Getty Center, Log, and POOL. He served on the arq editorial board (Cambridge University Press, 2006–2016) and was President of the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design (2007–2009), later joining its Advisory Board (2010–2016).
RESOURCE LINKS:
AIACA Hardening for Wildfire Resilience
AIA California published an article discussing the impacts of wildfires in California and the importance of hardening both the site and structure to limit destruction. The piece emphasizes that wildfires create significant financial burdens and highlights strategies to enhance resilience.
https://aiacalifornia.org/news/hardening-for-wildfire-resilience/
Continuing Education: Wildfire-Adapted Design
An article in Architectural Record discusses the importance of hardening homes against fire in tandem with other measures, most critically, defensible space. It emphasizes that while hardening homes is essential, it must be complemented by other strategies to effectively mitigate wildfire risks.
Sustainable Defensible Space
Created by the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, along with a diverse steering committee of experts, this project focuses on offering solutions to improve resilience and resource conservation values, and resistance of structures to wildfire loss for developed properties in the SMMNRA by improving management by homeowners of their defensible space zone. The site has an additional “Resources” tab for more detailed information and links to associated agencies.
Rockwool/RDH Technical Bulletin: https://www.rockwool.com/syssiteassets/o2-rockwool/documentation/technical-bulletins/residential/rockwool—building-with-stone-wool-in-wildfire-prone-areas.pdf?f=20250311140839
SFPE WUI Handbook: https://www.sfpe.org/wuihandbook/home
NFPA Wildfire Resources: https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/wildfire
2022 CBC – Chapter 7A – https://up.codes/viewer/california/ca-building-code-2022/chapter/7A/sfm-materials-and-construction-methods-for-exterior-wildfire-exposure#7A
Calfire WUI Listed Products – https://osfm.fire.ca.gov/what-we-do/fire-engineering-and-investigations/building-materials-listing
IBHS Wildfire Research – https://ibhs.org/risk-research/wildfire/
