Doctoral Dissertation Research: Mapping Socioeconomic Vulnerabilities to Coastal Hazards

研究表明，社会经济地位影响一个人对环境危害的脆弱性，然而，关于这些群体如何理解他们自己对沿海灾害的脆弱性的学术研究很少。这一博士论文研究项目将调查不同人群如何理解和可视化海岸灾害，以及这些理解如何与美国人口普查数据所代表的对海岸灾害脆弱性的描述相一致。该项目将提供关于社会经济状况如何影响沿海灾害适应和减轻项目的参与和资源分配的新见解。它将扩展危险理论，纳入关键种族理论的元素，并引入边缘化和便利化的政治生态概念。这位博士生将与几个地方组织、国家机构和非政府组织密切合作，使研究结果能够帮助指导政策制定者通过适应规划项目减轻社会脆弱性。项目结果还将有助于资源规划者对沿海资源的长期管理。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立强大的独立研究事业。使用混合方法的方法，博士生将分析社会脆弱性对环境危害的不平等。该项目将解决两个核心问题：(1)格鲁吉亚沿海哪些人口容易受到灾害的影响？(2)这些人口如何对这些灾害进行概念化和理解？将使用以普查为基础的建模方法，如社会脆弱性指数(SOVI)，以确定和绘制脆弱人口及其面临多种沿海灾害的情况。此外，学生将通过半结构化访谈、参与者观察和绘制不同人群生计使用空间的草图，调查对脆弱性的不同理解和概念。这些分析将使政策制定者和规划者了解脆弱性方面存在的不平等现象，并就尽量减少对边缘化或代表性不足人口的影响的政策提供指导。

Research has shown that socioeconomic status affects a population's vulnerability to environmental hazards, yet little scholarship exists regarding how such groups understand their own vulnerability to coastal hazards. This doctoral dissertation research project will investigate how a diverse populace understands and visualizes coastal hazards and how these understandings align with depictions of their vulnerability as represented by U.S. Census data. The project will provide new insights on how socioeconomic status affects participation and resource allocation for coastal hazard adaptation and mitigation projects. It will expand hazards theory to include elements of critical race theory and bring to bear the political ecology concepts of marginalization and facilitation. The doctoral student will work closely with several local organizations, state agencies, and nongovernmental organizations to enable findings to help guide policy makers in mitigating social vulnerability via adaptation planning projects. Project findings also will assist resource planners in their long-term management of coastal resources. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.Using a mixed methods approach, the doctoral student will analyze inequalities in social vulnerabilities to environmental hazards. The project will address two core questions: (1) What populations are vulnerable to hazards along the coast of Georgia? (2) How do these populations conceptualize and understand these hazards? Census-based modeling methods such as the Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI) will be used to identify and map vulnerable populations and their exposure to multiple coastal hazards. Furthermore, the student will investigate alternative understandings and conceptions about vulnerability through semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and sketch-mapping of livelihood use spaces across a diverse population. The analyses will inform policy makers and planners about existing inequities in vulnerabilities and provide guidance regarding policies that would minimize the impacts on marginalized or underrepresented populations.