Community Reflections
Hurricanes and the Resilience of Caribbean Museum Attractions
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Michael M. G Scantlebury
They year 2017 was devastating for the Caribbean. Hurricanes Irma (September 5-9) and Maria (September 18-20) impacted British Virgin Islands, U.S. Virgin Islands, Cuba, Florida; and the Lesser Antilles, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos Islands respectively. They resulted in 693 deaths and more than $155.7 Billion in damage. These two category five hurricanes had maximum sustained winds of 175 miles per hour. The devastation was wide-spread and intense. Johnson (2015) documents the history of hurricanes, hurricane science, and their changing impacts in the Caribbean. Such impacts include loss of life, property damage, economic impacts, and degradation of resources. Tourism is a vital part of the Caribbean economies and an important part of the touristic appeal is the region’s heritage and culture. Such culture and heritage is captured and showcased in the region’s museums. This project assesses the disaster preparedness and the resilience of museums in the twenty-eight member countries of the Caribbean Tourism Organization, including members of the Museum Association of the Caribbean. An on-line survey of each museum is conducted using SurveyMonkey. The survey instrument is based on that used by the Michigan Museum Association and the Johnson Center for Philanthropy at GVSU (2012) “Connecting Collections” project. This facilitates comparisons and contrasts with collections in the Caribbean. Recommendations are provided for protection of these important cultural and heritage resources..
Transformative Resilience and Wellbeing of a Marginalized Sampaguita Growing Community in the Philippines
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Susan Bacud
Rice and vegetable farming are traditional income sources in the Philippines. Farmers in the study site had income only after harvesting of farm produce. Incessant income shortage led to a poverty trap. Sampaguita livelihood is an alternative income source to overcome chronic poverty. The research revealed a story about a resilience journey of addressing poverty and other livelihood risks to attain wellbeing. The constructivist methodology of the research used mixed qualitative and quantitative methods to explore the constructs and meanings of risks, resilience and well-being. As sampaguita growing became a major income source to overcome poverty risk, other risks were perceived - frequent pesticide spraying that caused pest emergence and resistance, human and environmental health problems; extreme and unpredictable weather conditions; variable production level; and erratic market prices. The emerged resilience processes to reduce the adverse effects of livelihood risks were: learning livelihood change, building social support mechanisms, evolving self-organizations, and nurturing adaptation learning. Resilience transition enhanced wellbeing. Sampaguita growers narrated objective, subjective and interactive well-being dimensions. Wellbeing enhancement reflects the development of livelihood assets encompassing social, economic, human, and natural capitals. An improved understanding of wellbeing dynamics informed policy interventions aims to direct the sampaguita growing community on a more favorable trajectory out of chronic poverty and towards a more sustainable livelihood management.
Disaster and Community Recovery: The Alberta Way and Its Potential
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Marcus Ogwu Edino
The Province of Alberta, Canada has had its share of natural disasters in the last decade. The Slave Lake wildfire of 2011 with an estimated insurable damage of $800 million, the Southern Alberta floods of 2013 (estimated at $5 billion) and the Horse River wildfire of 2016 (almost $8.9 billion) all pointed to the fact that Alberta is not immune to disaster. As a demonstration of its commitment to enhancing the safety of its residents, facilitating restoration and recovery of communities, and ensuring that the province is better prepared for future emergency events, the Government of Alberta has continued to embark on a number of initiatives. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of select Government of Alberta’s recovery programs. Drawing on the Bring Back Better theoretical framework, which is increasingly becoming a feature of recovery programs following disasters in the twenty-first century, the study examines the inherent potentials in these programs and their connection with the philosophy of the Untied Nations Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. This work highlights the Alberta way with recovery and contributes to the literature on disaster recovery from a government perspective.
Participatory Approaches to Developing Planning Tools: Involving Local Government and Stakeholders in the Design and Development of a Community Systems and Scenario Modelling Exercise
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Robert Newell
Community engagement and participation is a necessary component of effective integrated community planning and sustainable development. Accordingly, tools used to support planning efforts, such as community systems models, should also incorporate participatory processes in their design and application. This research considers a three-stage research project conducted in Squamish (BC, Canada), which employed a participatory approach in a community systems and scenario modelling exercise. The first stage involved assembling community focus groups to discuss local issues and possible futures for Squamish. Ideas that emerged from these discussions informed the design of a community systems model and a series of local development scenarios: low-density residential, mixed housing types, high-density neighbourhood nodes, and enhancement of commercial and agricultural lands. The second stage applied the systems model in a scenario analysis. Results of the analysis illustrated how different development patterns can affect factors such as walkability, access to amenities, education, parks/trails, food/farm systems, public transit, housing affordability, threats to critical habitat, etc. The third stage involved assembling another focus group to solicit feedback on the scenario analysis and its usefulness for local planning. The feedback was used to refine the model and scenarios. A participatory approach to modeling yielded many benefits, including effective model scoping, accessing additional information sources and enhancing local investment in the project. In addition, engaging the community in multiple stages of the project was critical for allowing the model to evolve into a tool that more accurately reflected the community, thereby increasing its effectiveness for supporting integrated community planning.
