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Designing Survival: Why Community Comes First

Panel Presentation
Moderator: Charles Kelley, AIA
Chandra Robinson, AIA, Founder - chromatografica
John Wasiutynski - Chief Sustainability Officer Multnomah Co.
Jonna Papaefthimiou - State Resilience Officer 
Carly Harrison - VP of Real Estate at Albina Vision Trust


1 AIA LU|HSW

We focus heavily on investments in resilient buildings and infrastructure, yet post-disaster outcomes are shaped more by people than projects. This interactive, cross-sector panel challenges the profession to rethink resilience through community stewardship. Drawing on earthquakes, wildfires, and climate-driven hazard scenarios, panelists will debate why social cohesion often outperforms physical systems in survival and recovery.

The session will confront economic, political, and cultural barriers that delay resilience action while urgent needs dominate. Participants will engage directly with panelists to explore how architects can design not just buildings, but the relationships and systems that enable communities to endure.

This is the first session of the 2026 Resilience Series. Subsequent virtual sessions in the Fall of 2026 will build upon the ODC event as we explore how communities can recover, rebuild, thrive in response to natural and man-made disasters.

This session and the subsequent sessions of the 2026 Resilience Series are brought to you by the Resilience Series Planning Committee.

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2+2 THE OREGON WAY

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Jason Takeuchi Keynote