From Disaster to Resilience

The Gulf Coast Community Design Studio, an outreach program of Mississippi State University College of Architecture, Art and Design, was created to respond to Hurricane Katrina and has evolved from disaster response to long-term efforts of resilience. However, the Design Studio’s evolution is not an isolated story. It is part of a national move toward resilience. This paper shows how applied research is being used to advance resilience work. The thesis of the paper is twofold: first, the current, broadly defined term “resilience” offers an extraordinary opportunity for universities to work in partnership with professionals to advance multi-disciplinary efforts; and second, if the output of university programs is seen as being relevant to government and to the general public it can shape resilience’s vague definition to include the value of design.