Collaborative Research: Place Attachment in Mitigation and Recovery: A Mixed Methods Study of Residential Adjustment Following Wildfires

University Of North Texas, Denton TX

Investigators

Abstract

After a major disaster, such as a wildfire, affected homeowners must make a difficult decision: do they rebuild their home as it was before the disaster, rebuild but in a way that better protects them from future disasters, or relocate to a new home elsewhere? These are complicated decisions that impact homeowners and communities for many years. Such decisions are influenced by many factors, including household income, access to insurance, location of employment, the need for local services such as medical care or schools, and connections to family and friends. One underlying factor that affects all these others is place attachment, or the emotional and functional ties that people have to the place where they live. This study focuses on understanding how place attachment influences the decisions people make after disasters, specifically decisions about where they live and whether they invest in measures that reduce their risk to future disasters. Focused on three California counties that have been affected by recent, major wildfires, findings from this study will help local governments and practitioners develop programs that better support households that are affected by disasters and inform community planning for hazards associated with climate change. This study investigates the role of place attachment in residential adjustment after wildfires. Households affected by wildfires face a critical decision point: do they rebuild in the same way, rebuild with new mitigation efforts, or relocate? Relatively few studies have examined the factors that influence these residential decision-making processes, particularly the role of intangible factors like place attachment. This study addresses these critical gaps in our understanding, with the goals of: (1) investigating residential adjustment among homeowners affected by recent California wildfires, (2) examining the role of place attachment in post-disaster residential adjustment, and (3) assessing the extent to which current place attachment measures capture the observed dynamics of place attachment in disaster contexts. Using three California counties as study sites, and building on a pilot study in these same, fire-affected communities, the research team will use photovoice method and phenomenological analyses to develop a deep, contextually grounded understanding of the role of place attachment in residential decisions. Additionally, the team will use qualitative comparative analysis to examine commonalities in household adjustment pathways after disaster. Study findings will advance both the theoretical and practical understanding of place attachment in mitigation and recovery. Given that place attachment is a foundational construct tied to many other aspects of recovery decision-making, this will be a critical contribution for US communities given the increasing losses to wildfire and other climate-induced disasters. Furthermore, study findings will contribute meaningfully to housing recovery policy, adaptation policy, and recovery and relocation practice. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.