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Centering Equity in Community Planning using the EPA's Equitable Resilience Builder Tool
Citation:
Maxwell, K., E. Eisenhauer, B. Kiessling, S. Julius, M. Fry, Annie Matsler, L. Oliver, I. Reilly, AND M. Shacklette. Centering Equity in Community Planning using the EPA's Equitable Resilience Builder Tool. International Conference on Urban Affairs, New York, NY, April 24 - 27, 2024.
Impact/Purpose:
Climate change presents cascading and compounding threats to low-income and underrepresented communities, increasing the need for equitable resilience planning. However, many local governments face challenges incorporating community voices with resilience and vulnerability data in planning processes. Our research team created the Equitable Resilience Builder (ERB) tool to address these challenges. This is a presentation of the ERB tool, specifically its development using Human-Centered Design (HCD) at a conference of urban planning professionals. The goal of this presentation is to present the draft ERB tool to professionals for their awareness and feedback. Use of this tool by urban planners throughout the US and, potentially internationally, can improve the inclusion of communities in resilience planning with the potential to increase equity in many climate change adaptation actions.
Description:
Climate change presents cascading and compounding threats to low-income and underrepresented communities, increasing the need for equitable resilience planning. However, many local governments face challenges incorporating community voices with resilience and vulnerability data in planning processes. As interdisciplinary researchers at the United States Environmental Protection Agency, we asked: what support is needed to help communities center equity in resilience planning efforts? We answered this question using Human Centered Design (HCD). HCD uses social science methods and design perspectives to create products, services, and processes aligned with user needs. Through iterative HCD phases, we refined our problem statement by learning from municipal, county, and Tribal government agencies and non-profit organizations about their needs, successes, and failures in the field. The result is the Equitable Resilience Builder (ERB), a downloadable tool for inclusive resilience planning for disasters and climate change, with techniques for equity-focused community engagement; guides for workshops with storytelling; and strategies for evaluating hazards, equity, and resilience with local knowledge and other data. ERB is unique in its combination of qualitative and quantitative data and processes; it is 1) Equitable – users can increase attention to equity using tool content and process; 2) Holistic – users visualize how built, natural, and social environments affect equitable resilience; 3) Adaptable – ERB can be used in different types of resilience planning: watershed, hazard mitigation, disaster preparedness, climate adaptation, etc.; 4) Flexible – users select which activities best suit their goals, timeline, and resources; 5) Iterative – reflection and revision are built into ERB; 6) Emotions and trauma – ERB recognizes that resilience planning sparks emotional reactions, especially in places suffering from historic trauma or recent disasters. Through emphasizing engagement, empowering local knowledge, and respecting and incorporating underrepresented perspectives from the community, the ERB helps users build a stronger sense of community trust and develop more equitable resilience plans.