Community relocation

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Internationally, considering community relocation with the impacts of environmental change is increasingly sought. When considering a short timeframe, relocation is not a remedy for communities as it negatively disrupts daily life and social networks. But what if communities are faced with making decisions to stay in place or relocate after a disaster strikes or facing increased threats with intense weather? We research community relocation from different perspectives, including planning decisions, community perceptions, and governance, to explore better ways to decide whether or not to pursue relocation and, if relocating communities, how.

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Governance in changing environments

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We often see a governance structure emerge after disasters in support of rebuilding. In such cases, an interim post-disaster institution is established to oversee policies, funding, and project implementation. Stakeholders from multi-level governments, non-government organizations, private sectors, and residents are then involved in the system to play a part in recovery. However, these institutions are established adhoc. What are the roles and responsibilities of the post-disaster institutions and the involved stakeholders to design a better rebuilding? How should national, regional, and local actors interplay and be a part of building resilience? We explore a successful way of governing areas threatened by hazards in a compressed timeframe, especially following major disasters.

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Planning, land use, and spatial form

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Hazard reduction and development are in rivalry. Governments can regulate use of hazard-prone lands to minimize risk, but regulation can slow down economic development as it restricts economic activities and access to urban services and disrupts social networks. Policy makers can also decide to reduce hazards by adopting engineering-based solutions, but it often makes communities give up their traditional ways of living. How can we refrain from high hazard risks considering land use controls and infrastructure construction, yet support active and vibrant communities? What are the appropriate processes of planning and implementation to achieve such goals? We explore such complex issues with a lens of time to examine changing perceptions on hazard and development.

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Developmental issues: Poverty, inequality and power

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To directly understand the difficult daily lives of communities as well as challenges on decision making by policy makers and planners and to track changes in peoples’ mindsets and development over time, we emphasize a qualitative approach and embed ourselves in projects, communities, and informal conversations. In such ways, we see complications of vulnerable populations facing poverty, inequality, and power as well as demands, pressures and urgency professionals face in the bureaucratic system of planning. We take our in-the-field lessons to explore inclusive planning processes.