Centering Equity in Community Planning using the EPA’s Equitable Resilience Builder Tool
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Marissa Matsler will present and demo the EPA’s new resilience planning tool, the Equitable Resilience Builder (ERB). The tool was developed by an interdisciplinary team at EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) using Human-Centered Design (HCD) techniques. The tool was developed in response to feedback from local governments that it is difficult to incorporate community voices with resilience and vulnerability data in planning processes.
ERB is a downloadable tool for inclusive resilience planning addressing both disasters and climate change. It includes 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. The goal of the tool is to be: 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.