Participatory Action Research: Tools for Disaster Resilience Education

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Urban Planning
• Community Development

Background:

• Community engagement in disaster resilience and environmental justice is crucial but often limited in traditional risk assessment and urban planning.
• A gap exists in appreciating community expertise and providing educational tools for resident involvement in technical planning processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To outline an interdisciplinary pedagogical strategy for resilience planning that engages residents in assessing and monitoring stormwater infrastructure.
• To foster co-learning between residents and researchers on flood resilience in the built environment.
• To address the fragmentation in urban planning by integrating community expertise.

Main Methods:

• A participatory action research and place-based education project was implemented.
• Key activities included partnership agreements, participatory GIS, water quality testing, infrastructure assessment, and urban design.
• Partnerships involved students, residents, and environmental justice organizations.

Main Results:

• Developed a stakeholder-approved smartphone application for infrastructure assessment.
• Created neighborhood maps identifying drainage issues and a report on water containments.
• Generated neighborhood-scale green infrastructure plans, indicating positive contributions to participants' resilience knowledge.

Conclusions:

• Participatory research enhances community capacity for disaster resilience and environmental justice.
• Integrating resident knowledge and co-learning improves the effectiveness of urban planning and adaptation strategies.
• The outlined pedagogical strategy offers a model for engaging communities in resilience planning.