Building Equitable Resilience

Researchers in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are using human-centered design to develop a tool and a process for using it that is intended to help underserved and underresourced communities build equitable resilience to climate change and disasters. This project draws upon social scientific analysis of the deep historical roots and many ways in which socially-produced vulnerability and climate-related hazards intertwine. It also operationalizes key concepts around resilience, vulnerability, inclusion, and equity. There are five main steps to the process: project planning, community engagement, hazard and vulnerability intersections, inclusively assessing equitable resilience, and identifying and prioritizing resilience actions. It employs several methods for integrating local knowledge and more quantitative measures to assess resilience. The research team is working with a variety of partners to test how useful and usable this approach really is in communities looking to build equitable resilience in the arenas of watershed planning, disaster preparedness, and COVID recovery. This presentation describes key features of the tool and process. It also shares practical lessons about using human-centered design in resilience and adaptation work.

Impact/Purpose

This poster shares information about a product in development, the Equitable Resilience Builder, with attendees of the National Adaptation Forum who are a key audience for our work. 

Citation

Eisenhauer, E. AND J. Finley. Building Equitable Resilience. To be presented at National Adaptation Forum, Baltimore, MD, October 24 - 27, 2022.

• Building Equitable Resilience (PDF)  (1  pp, 2.8 MB, about PDF)