Abstract
Decades of scholarship and practitioner reflection point to factors that promote local hazard mitigation planning and implementation, collectively forming the standard model of local hazard mitigation. Attention to the role of individuals and teams of champions working in collaborative networks has been neglected comparatively. We examine Tulsa, Oklahoma’s award-winning successes in flood hazard mitigation as an exemplary case to evaluate two questions. Does Tulsa’s nationally acclaimed model local hazard mitigation effort fit what the research points to as the standard model of hazard mitigation? Second, how have the characteristics and roles of local champions and the relationships between them shaped Tulsa’s successes? We find that the major plotlines in the Tulsa hazard mitigation story confirm the importance of major elements of the standard model of local hazard mitigation. Second, our investigation into the key stakeholders, their professional roles, their personal characteristics, and their relationships provides new insights, some surprising and potentially controversial, into the diverse array of individual and group attributes that enable the other dimensions of the standard model to be effective.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank Ron Flanagan, Tim Lovell, Janet Meshek, Ann Patton, and Stan Williams for their cooperation and insights. This work was supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Program Office Grant No. NA18OAR4310337.
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Natural Hazards Review
Volume 22 • Issue 4 • November 2021
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© 2021 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Mar 3, 2020
Accepted: Feb 4, 2021
Published online: Jun 16, 2021
Published in print: Nov 1, 2021
Discussion open until: Nov 16, 2021
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