This research project analyzed the ways in which designers can influence wildfire risk at the community scale. The study focused on neighborhood urban design strategies to bridge the gap in existing knowledge between the parcel scale and the forest. The team was able to thus “urbanize” the topic of fire risk reduction, which to date has focused on single homeowners or forestry professionals. Published findings clearly illustrate six rules-of-thumb and 20 applied strategies for wildfire risk reduction. The appendix serves as a comprehensive repository of resources. The team reviewed current literature and synthesized key information from the fields of fire science, forestry, land use planning, and emergency management in order to provide practitioners with relevant guidance. This resource will be an increasingly important design tool in fire-prone regions, as catastrophic wildfire events are projected to increase in frequency and destruction. This project extends SWA’s work on climate change adaptation.
RESEARCH TEAM
Principal Investigator: Anya Domlesky, Director of Research, SWA
Co-Investigator: Jonah Susskind, Research Associate, SWA
Alison Ecker, Associate, SWA
Xinyi (Sydnie) Zhang, intern, SWA
University of Michigan capstone:
Lisa DuRussel, Assistant Professor of Practice, University of Michigan
Shannon Clancy, student, University of Michigan
Dallas Ford, student, University of Michigan
Peter Rustad, student, University of Michigan
Rajpankaja Talkudar, student, University of Michigan
Ted Vuchinich, student, University of Michigan
California Burning: Designing with Fire :
Harrison Raine, student, University of California, Berkeley
Luis Mota, student, University of Southern California
Michele Totoy, student, Polytechnic University of Milan
Jin Zhang, student, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
Slide Kelly, student, Harvard University
Tejas Saiyya, student, University of Michigan
Xinyi Zhang, student, University of Pennsylvania
Yuanqing Su, student, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
THANKS TO
Carly O’Connell (née Klein), Pitkin County Open Space and Trails
Brian Oh, County of Sonoma
Tennis Wick, County of Sonoma
Adam Sharron, County of Sonoma
Thomas Azwell, University of California, Berkeley
Graham Wesolowski, Spatial Informatics Group—Natural Assets Laboratory
Joe Runco, Gerdo Aquino, Sean O’Malley, John Wong, Jack Wu, Liz Batchelder, and Paul Wehby, SWA
Molly Mowery, Community Wildfire Planning Center
Greg Kochanowski, The Wild: A Research Lab
Max Moritz, UC Santa Barbara
FEATURED
AIA California Urban Design Merit Award
ASLA Landscape Architects: Designing a Climate and Nature Positive World
Safe Solutions: Reducing Risks from Wildfire
LA Times
“Can Fire Gutted Suburbs Rebuild Safer? Here’s What Experts Say”
ASLA Northern California Merit Award in Research & Communication
University of Toronto John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design
Landscape Strategies for a Fire-Prone Planet
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Climate by Design lecture
SF Climate Week
Fire: How humanity is adapting to a flammable planet
Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) Webinar
Landscape Strategies for a Fire-Prone Planet
California Green Building Conference
“Hot Topic: Nature-Based Approaches to Wildfire Mitigation in the Built Environment”
Landscape Architecture Magazine
A Buffer Buffet
What’s Next for Wildfire Research?
ASLA Conference on Landscape Architecture
“On the Edge: Merging Wildfire Research and Design in Reimagining Frontline Communities”
ASLA’s The Dirt
“How Fire-Prone Communities Can Reduce Their Risk”
Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) Conference
“Trial by Fire: Testing the 5 Models of Knowledge Generation Between Practice and Academia”
UC Berkeley, Design for Sustainability Colloquium
Driving Climate Action Through Practice-Based Research
RELATED PROJECTS
California Wildland Urban Interface Research
The Edge of Paradise: Landscape Strategies for Living with Fire
Climate Infrastructure Toolkit
SWA Summer Student Programs: California Burning and Living on the Edge