A Community Planning Approach to Green Infrastructure and Hazard Mitigation

Authors

• Kara Salazar, Purdue UniversityFollow
• Daniel Walker, Purdue UniversityFollow
• Carrie McKillip, University of IllinoisFollow

Volume

64

Issue

1

Abstract

As communities seek to increase their resilience to climate change and natural hazards, integrating mitigation and adaptation solutions into local planning has become essential. Purdue Extension, the University of Illinois Extension, and Illinois–Indiana Sea Grant developed a program, funded by the Extension Disaster Education Network, which supports community-based updates to hazard mitigation and resilience planning, with an emphasis on green infrastructure. This paper highlights the lessons we learned after implementing the program in Hancock County, Illinois, and LaPorte, Indiana, and the toolkit we created, which provides engagement and education techniques, planning processes, and other resources to Extension professionals working in community development, planning, and green infrastructure.

Authors’ Contribution Statement

Authors Kara Salazar, Dan Walker, and Carrie McKillip co-led project creation and community implementation and manuscript writing and revisions. 

Data Availability

No datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Salazar, K., Walker, D., & McKillip, C. (2026). A Community Planning Approach to Green Infrastructure and Hazard Mitigation. Journal of Extension, 64(1), Article 18. https://doi.org/10.66752/1077-5315.5716