Thirteenth International Conference on The Constructed Environment

Abstract

Increasing wildfire disasters globally have highlighted the need to understand and mitigate human vulnerability to wildfire. In response, there has been a substantial uptick in efforts to characterize and quantify wildfire vulnerability. Such efforts have largely focused on quantifying potential wildfire exposure and overlooked the aspects of social vulnerability that determine individual and community resilience to wildfire, particularly sensitivity. Here, we synthesize the socioeconomic, demographic, and intersectional identity factors that contribute to how sensitive populations are to wildfire, and identify how those factors subsequently affect the adaptive capacity of said populations through cultural/social cohesions, perception of risk, and agency to enact change. Further, we look at how populations and communities address the social sensitivities and inequities that position them at greater risk for wildfires, and investigate how they mitigate those risks and rebuild from wildfire disasters. We suggest that approaching wildfire resilience through a climate justice framework can center solutions that address root causes of inequity in differential sensitivity rather than landscape outcomes.