Mayor Kirk Caldwell recently released “Ola: O‘ahu Resilience Strategy,” the product of an extensive 18-month planning process involving hundreds of residents, committee members and stakeholders.

The plan is big, bold and packed with useful information, interesting analyses and important calls to action. It is a must-read, not just for planners and disaster preppers, but everyone in our community.

As a planning professor at University of Hawaii-Manoa for more than three decades, I’ve seen lots of plans, strategies and engagement processes. The Resilience Strategy contains both broad direction-setting goals as well as specific actions with measurable indicators of progress. It also describes the authorities, responsibilities and key actors who need to implement actions. This plan also conveys understanding of the context, the hazards and threats we face, and a prioritization of actions and changes needed to increase safety, security and resilience.

Supported by the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities Initiative, it addresses both acute shocks such as hurricanes, tsunamis and external economic crises, but also chronic stressors such as environmental degradation, lack of affordable housing and the need for a more vibrant economy. It draws upon the recent experience of other cities developing similar strategies, but also focuses on the values, identity, culture, and wisdom of Hawaii and its people.

Led by the newly created Office of Climate Change, Sustainability and Resiliency, the report is backed by the analysis of data from meetings with all 33 Neighborhood Boards, 219 community groups, and a survey of 2,300 residents. This was a high-energy, extensive process.

It pulls no punches, describing the negative impacts of vacation rentals on housing availability and affordability; the effects of delays in permitting on energy and housing development; the bleak situation regarding imported food and fuel; limited progress toward climate security, energy consumption and costs; and the daunting challenges of managing cohesion, building social capital, and reducing Oahu’s growing disparities and inequities.

Moving forward, the strategy needs to be taken seriously.

This means more integration with city and state government operations and deeper engagement, commitments and resources by utilities, landowners, institutions, employers, and nonprofits. We all need to own and take responsibility for the 44 different actions called for in the strategy.

While the strategy is visionary, it needs periodic reporting and updating as to progress, achievement of benchmarks, and accounting both financially and politically as to the investments and returns on resilience.

More local data and analyses are needed, such as tabulation of benefits to Honolulu accruing from updated building codes; more detailed assessment on reducing flood insurance costs to residents with adoption of the Community Rating System (Action 13); or estimating the cooling effects and energy savings from green and cool roofs, and many other sustainability efforts (Action 32).

More efforts to supporting research and development, and education and training are needed to strengthen resilience.

More attention to the very large, expensive infrastructure projects — fixed rail transit, water/wastewater system upgrades, Ala Wai Canal and stormwater management — all mentioned in the strategy, is needed. It’s hard to take resilience seriously with these massive, lurking projects on the horizon.

The city might also consider amending the antiquated shoreline setback rules, which seem particularly outdated given climate change, sea level rise and coastal erosion (Action 29). Much easier said than done, though, given the challenges of property rights and existing bureaucratic processes.

Among the greatest hazards we face is the “tyranny of isolation,” which affects supply chains, mutual aid, emergency food and long-term recovery. More attention to both port and airport operations as well as to their role in disasters is needed.

The challenge remains. While the strategy is a great start, the road to resilience is long, winding, difficult and will take many steps, especially if we are to make progress together as a community.

Karl Kim, Ph.D., is professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Hawaii, where he directs the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center; he was on the steering committee for “Ola: O‘ahu Resilience Strategy.”