(CS3.4) Bridging Built Environment Data and Community Knowledge for Disaster Risk Reduction in Montpelier, VT

In our era of increasing climate volatility, heritage-rich communities in flood-prone areas face escalating risks, magnifying the vulnerabilities of their buildings and cultural assets. Recurrent flood events compound damage to aging structures, impeding recovery efforts. Complex sociopolitical dynamics further complicate decision-making processes, while community-based participatory approaches, crucial for culturally appropriate responses and environmental justice, introduce new challenges.

Recognizing the urgency of addressing these challenges, this study examines post-disaster recovery dynamics in Montpelier, VT, selected for its susceptibility to recurrent flooding and its remarkable community-led response following the July 2023 floods. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, bridging building data with community knowledge, to evaluate the impact of community-based interventions and the role of local knowledge in shaping recovery practices. It aligns with calls to deconstruct the binary between traditional and scientific knowledge, emphasizing the integration of diverse forms of knowledge in disaster management and recognizing the potential of local community engagement in improving disaster recovery processes.

The exploration of post-disaster recovery dynamics combines analysis of building attributes and recovery outcomes with stakeholder interviews and archive research. By synthesizing building data with personal stories and stakeholder perspectives, the study offers a comprehensive multifaceted view of community resilience and recovery processes, encompassing physical reconstruction, adaptive measures, and socio-economic dynamics. This comprehensive dataset reveals the physical alterations within the city, showing the extent of damage and reconstruction efforts. It also uncovers the intricate decision-making processes, including resource allocation, prioritization of heritage structures, and navigation of regulatory frameworks that shape recovery efforts. This approach aims to identify key factors influencing the resilience and recovery of heritage structures and the challenges in the implementation of community-based approaches and the integration of local knowledge.

This research contributes to the understanding of post-disaster recovery in heritage-rich environments by highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of effective recovery strategies. The presentation will discuss the methodologies employed and preliminary findings, emphasizing the critical role of integrating context-specific local knowledge with technical strategies. This research contributes to the discourse on coproduction, community-based approaches, responsible design, and integrated knowledge in heritage recovery, aiming to inform more collaborative and culturally sensitive approaches to building resilience in vulnerable, heritage-rich communities.