Planning for Wildfire in California’s Wildland-Urban Interface Communities

Keywords: wildfire, wildland-urban interface (WUI), housing market, urban planning
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 70

Abstract

Climate change is causing record-breaking wildfires in California. The fast growth of wildland-urban interface (WUI) communities is a key contributor to wildfire ignitions and damage. Urban planning for wildfire, however, have yet gained traction in practice. The objective of this study is to explore urban planning approaches to mitigating the impacts of wildfires on the communities in California’s WUI areas. To achieve this goal, we attempt to answer three research questions: 1) What are the state-of-art practices in using urban planning for wildfire prevention and protection in the United States and other counties? 2) What are the development trends of California’s WUI communities? 3) what are the impacts of the wildfires on WUI communities, particularly their housing markets? and 4) how can urban planning be used to create fire-adapted communities.

To answer the three research questions, we will conduct both quantitative and qualitative analyses. The quantitative analyses will identify California’s WUI communities that were impacted by the wildfires, their growth trajectories in the past two decades, and the impacts of wildfires on these communities. The qualitative analyses will reveal whether and how urban planning tools are being used to prevent and adapt to wildfires in California’s WUI communities as well as how these policies can be reformed and improved. The results of this study will inform urban planners, elected officials, and key stakeholders in California’s WUI communities about how to use urban planning to foster fire adapted communities.