Sixteenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

For the past fifteen years, research on resiliency in relation to the effects of climate change on urban environments as primarily focused on sea level rise. Consequently, Arid Regions of the Southwest United States as well as areas of Central and South America have received little attention although the devastating effects of fires and mudslides strikes these areas on a recurring basis. As urban environments become more and more expensive and inaccessible to large portions of the population, and development increasingly extends into the Wildland Urban Interface Zone (WUI), we must gain a fuller understanding of these dynamic landscapes, their effect on cities and find innovative ways of creating resilient infrastructures that both protect and enhance the lives of people and property. This session will introduce, and forecast, emerging technologies for analyzing these thermal and fluvial environments, and discuss the political and economic realities of building in the WUI. The panel will focus on four primary areas: Political and Economic Frameworks of the WUI, Urbanization of Alluvial Fans and the Fire and Flood Sequence, Present Potentials and Future Scenarios, and Design for Urban Adaptation.