Coastal resilience is multi-dimensional, reflecting ecological, social, economic, institutional, infrastructure, and community elements. It is a wicked problem that is complex, poorly formulated, and with many stakeholders holding conflicting values that make it difficult to resolve. Addressing coastal resilience as a multi-dimensional wicked problem calls for multi-sectoral and whole-of-community approaches, and this seminar will illustrate several research and practice examples using these approaches. Research on the multisectoral decision network for living shorelines in Virginia will be used to show the roles of different sectoral groups and how they interact within the network. A national workshop on equitable coastal resilience will be used to illustrate how actors from across multiple sectors and levels of government identified the importance of and challenges to conducting collaborative community-government-university applied coastal resilience projects. Examples from equitable resilience planning and marine debris will emphasize the planning and coalition-building activities that span multiple sectors and the whole of the community.

Wie Yusuf is a professor in the School of Public Service at Old Dominion University. She has been involved in interdisciplinary research and practice related to coastal resilience since 2011, beginning with the Climate Change and Sea Level Rise Initiative, continuing with the ODU Resilience Collaborative, and eventually as assistant director for education with the Institute for Coastal Adaptation and Resilience. She studies policy issues at the intersection of government, business, nonprofits, and society, and applies the multi-sectoral and whole-of-community approaches to a range of issues, including wicked problems such as climate change, sea level rise, and coastal resilience.

CCPO Innovation Research Park Building I 4111 Monarch Way, 3rd Floor Old Dominion University Norfolk, VA 23508 757-683-4940