Resilience
AIA advocates for resilience and hazard mitigation in the built environment through various policies, programs, and practices. AIA emphasizes the importance of designing buildings and communities that can withstand and recover from natural and human-caused hazards such as earthquakes, floods, fires, and severe weather.
Why we care
By promoting adaptable and resilient design, AIA aims to reduce harm and property damage while ensuring that structures can efficiently recover from adverse events.
Legal Safeguards for Volunteer Work: Good Samaritan laws are crucial for disaster recovery because they encourage architects to provide their expertise and assistance without fear of legal repercussions. These laws offer immunity from civil liability to architects to act in good faith to help others in distress.
AIA supports the expansion of Good Samaritan laws to all 50 states and at the federal level for national emergencies. AIA also advocates for streamlining FEMA’s collaboration with architects during emergencies, ensuring rapid deployment of trained architects for structural evaluations.
Updated Standards for Materials and Post-Disaster Response: Using disaster-resilient materials in the built environment offers significant value in terms of safety, economic savings, and sustainability. The materials are designed to withstand extreme conditions such as earthquakes, floods, fires, and severe weather, reducing the risk of structural damage and loss of life.
AIA advocates for codes and other regulations that call for the use of disaster-resilient materials, informed by AIA’s Disaster Assistance Handbook, especially in high-risk zones, Additionally, AIA supports the adoption of AIA’s Safety Assessment Program at both the state and federal levels.
Improve and Establish Dedicated Funding Mechanisms for Hazard Mitigation: Hazard mitigation projects and upgrades can be costly. However, the costs of the initial investment is returned seven-fold in the wake of a natural disaster. Incentivizing these investments supports architects in their work to protect public health, safety, and welfare, and helps make the built environment safer, minimizing loss of life and economic disruption in communities affected by disasters. AIA advocates for a doubling of current funding amounts for federal grants that incentivize mitigation or incorporate mitigation standards.
Recent Resilience Advocacy
- AIA FEMA comments in favor of funding the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program (May 9, 2025) Read the letter
- AIA FEMA comments on the continuation of disaster aid and mitigation funding (March 13, 2025) Read the letter
- FEMA & SBA request for extension of application deadlines for victims of Los Angeles wildfires (March 5, 2025) Read the letter