Marccus Hendricks, associate professor at the University of Maryland and director of the Stormwater Infrastructure Resilience and Justice Lab, joins People Behind the Plans for a wide-ranging conversation on disaster resilience, environmental justice, and the current challenges facing the planning profession.

Drawing on his upbringing in Dallas, his scholarship on flood risk and infrastructure inequity, and his experience as a senior adviser for Climate and Community Resilience in the Biden administration, Hendricks explores the roots of social vulnerability and the role planning plays in shaping health, safety, and opportunity. He also shares a path to planning via public health and emergency medicine, and namechecks some of his planning heroes, like Shannon Van Zandt, Walt Peacock, Lori Peek, Dennis Mileti, Norma and Bill Anderson, John T. Cooper Jr., and Philip Berke.

“My mentors were studying the aftermath of disasters and I wanted to get after the root causes of how we got here. Individuals and groups who live at the social and economic margins of our society are the least likely to be able to mitigate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from environmental hazards. “

— Marccus Hendricks

Hendricks shares how cuts to federal planning programs and research funding are affecting planners, students, and academic institutions, and why retreating from hard truths poses a risk to the future of the field. And he offers candid advice to students and local planners navigating uncertainty, emphasizing the enduring power of community-centered work and action at the local level.

Episode URL: https://planning.org/podcast/marccus-hendricks-on-infrastructural-justice-and-staying-true-to-your-values/