NSF Award
2228584
REFURB will use technology to improve recovery from and preparation for persistent and increasingly severe basement flooding that impacts the Eastside of Detroit, Michigan. Our focus is in neighborhoods that contain older homes connected to aging sewer systems that are undersized, and poorly maintained due to racially driven development policy and investment decisions. Recent research has explored the limitations of managing stormwater through landscape changes, but success is contingent on the type of soil, plants, size, and frequency of storms. In coastal communities, homes need to be “safe to fail” because flooding is currently inevitable. Consistent with NSF’s mission, this work will progress science to improve individual well-being. REFURB will also lead to increased effectiveness of partnerships, which are needed, but do not presently exist. Additionally, data and knowledge built during this work will be used to integrate community perspectives into curricula to enhance a pipeline for social workers, communications professionals, and engineers to work in climate resilience and disaster mitigation. <br/><br/>The project's goals are to: (1) Use flood damage reports, environmental and other data to develop provisional, proof-of-concept level risk maps to be used to target adaptations of critical infrastructure to mitigate future flooding vulnerability; (2) Describe the attributes and supports required for effective and equitable disaster recovery and mitigation based on a participatory action case study with at-risk communities working to improve flood prevention, climate resilience, and data access; and (3) Develop understanding of the social structures, systems, and community science literacies necessary for early-warning, response, and flood risk preparedness for residents who lack digital access through a participatory action case study with at-risk communities. REFURB will convene work groups from impacted community residents to co-produce knowledge required to support resilience (i.e., the ability to return to a new normal after disasters) to climate-induced flooding. The first goal will include better techniques to assess the condition of residential sewer pipes and optimize infrastructure investment. A convergent approach combined with robust community engagement will ensure the knowledge about innovative technologies will be scalable and generalizable. Second, building on existing partnerships, this project will develop a community-based framework for improving resilience to climate change. Third, this project will advance techniques used to communicate risk and enhance disaster recovery in communities where not all have smartphones. By learning how people in neighborhoods interact with technology needed to make homes “safe to fail”, findings will inform other urban communities experiencing climate-induced flooding.<br/><br/>This project is in response to the Civic Innovation Challenge program—Track A. Living in a changing climate: pre-disaster action around adaptation, resilience, and mitigation—and is a collaboration between NSF, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Energy.<br/><br/>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.
