The commonly chosen vehicle for education and communication of natural hazards is spatial maps. National seismic hazard mapping is focused on communicating the hazard of earthquake ground shaking and how that varies due primarily to the magnitude and recurrence rate of, and distance from, earthquakes. Seismic microzonation mapping goes further in communicating variations in seismic hazard(s) due to local site effects, such as amplification of earthquake waves due to soil or basin effects or the potential that earthquake shaking will trigger liquefaction or landslides. In this talk, I will try to convince you that seismic microzonation maps are therefore the desirable mid-size vehicle for urban regions and local communities to drive change in terms of the education and communication of their local seismic hazards and steer their risk-informed decision-making.