Jim Schwab
On May 31, 2017, James Schwab, FAICP, retired from the American Planning Association, where he served as the manager of the Hazards Planning Center and as editor or co-editor of Zoning Practice, a monthly APA publication. In leaving, he announced that he was undertaking a “five-point retirement plan,” in effect a “baby boomer” retirement in which he would pursue a number of personal interests that were often less feasible while he remained, in effect, the resident APA disaster expert. The five points included consulting, public speaking, his blog, book projects, and teaching, which until recently included working as a certified instructor for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Emergency Management Institute.
After leaving APA, Jim continued to teach as adjunct assistant professor for the University of Iowa School of Planning and Public Affairs, a position to which he was recruited in 2008, teaching a popular course on “Planning for Disaster Mitigation and Recovery.” He made 2024 his last year in that capacity. He has maintained a popular blog, “Home of the Brave,” on his personal website, and been a frequent public speaker. His career has reflected his double penchant for both urban planning and communication. Jim served in 2020–2021 as Chair of APA’s Hazard Mitigation and Disaster Recovery (HMDR) Planning Division, which serves planners devoted to addressing the intersection of planning with natural hazards and climate change issues. Jim is co-producer of an HMDR documentary film project, Planning to Turn the Tide, which is expected to be completed in early 2026.
Jim’s last major APA publication was Subdivision Design and Flood Hazard Areas, PAS Report No. 584, released in September 2016. That project was supported by FEMA. His most recent previous publication was Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery: Next Generation, an entirely new version of the 1998 PAS Report by APA, Planning for Post-Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction, both also funded by FEMA. With a new team of contributors led by Jim, this report broke new ground in the theory and practice of planning for recovery after natural disasters, accompanied by substantial website resources. Jim is also the author, co-author, or general editor of several other reports published by APA and has contributed to several anthologies on planning topics such as natural hazards and climate change.
Jim is also the author of Raising Less Corn and More Hell: Midwestern Farmers Speak Out (University of Illinois Press, 1988) and Deeper Shades of Green: The Rise of Blue-Collar and Minority Environmentalism in America (Sierra Club Books, 1994). The first was an oral history of the farm protest of the 1980s that challenged widespread farm bankruptcies and liquidations. The second examined the then-emerging environmental justice movement within African American, Hispanic, and other minority communities, as well as white blue-collar neighborhoods, to fight industrial pollution and protect public health. He is currently working on a book about the emergence of disaster resilience as a major focus of the planning profession, viewed from his own experience in helping to develop that new subfield of planning. Learn more about Jim’s other publications under Publications on his business website.
Jim has received several major honors and awards in recent years. In 2016, he was inducted into the prestigious College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners. In 2018, the Association of State Floodplain Managers gave him the Goddard-White Award, its highest honor. In 2024, HMDR bestowed on him its Jennifer Ellison Distinguished Service Award, followed in 2025 with its Adrian Freund Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing his major role in facilitating the creation of the hazards planning subfield.
Jim is a past President of the Society of Midland Authors (1997–99) and has served in many capacities including as a judge in SMA’s annual book awards contests. In 2013, he received SMA’s Distinguished Service Award. Jim has a B.A. in Political Science from Cleveland State University, and M.A.s in both Journalism and Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Iowa.