University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Future Ready
Book

Future Ready

Your Organization's Guide to Rethinking Climate, Resilience, and Sustainability

Alastair MacGregor and Tom Lewis
Wiley, 2023
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
  • Applicable
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

With climate-related disasters becoming more frequent and severe, humanity must take strategic, broad-based action to mitigate risks and prepare for the future. In this practical text, sustainability consultant Tom Lewis and high-performance designer Alastair MacGregor provide essential guidance, illustrated by concrete examples, for integrating sustainability and resilience into infrastructure and building projects. They introduce readers to the basics of climate science and offer detailed recommendations for practitioners and decision-makers grappling with evolving environmental challenges.

Summary

Climate change has created an urgent need for infrastructure designers and urban planners to incorporate sustainability and resilience in their decision-making.

Escalating climate threats underscore the urgency of developing resilient and sustainable infrastructure. The devastating fallout from Superstorm Sandy — the 2012 hurricane that caused extensive disruption and damage in New York City — was a wake-up call for many, exposing the vulnerabilities in current systems. Since then, awareness of the risks posed by inaction has grown. Policymakers, urban planners, industry professionals, and business leaders hoping to mitigate these risks must shift their approaches to incorporate risk management and sustainability into infrastructure design.

There is no single answer to the problems climate change poses. Planners must take an integrated approach that balances public and private sector involvement, prioritizes genuine community needs, and accounts for future trends. The Future Ready framework developed by the professional services firm WSP consists of four lenses for considering decisions: climate, society, technology, and resources. The use of this framework...

About the Authors

Tom Lewis is President and Chief Operating Officer of Tidal Basin Group and founder and principal at LE4 Advisors. He advises global organizations in sustainable and resilient infrastructure and technologies. Alastair (Aly) MacGregor is Senior Vice President at WSP USA. He has 25 years of experience in high-performance, sustainable design and strategy, including NASA’s Net Zero.

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