Doctoral Dissertation Research: Mapping Socioeconomic Vulnerabilities to Coastal Hazards

研究表明，社会经济地位会影响人们对环境危害的脆弱性，但关于这些群体如何理解自己对沿海危害的脆弱性的研究却很少。这个博士论文研究项目将调查不同的民众如何理解和可视化沿海灾害，以及这些理解如何与美国人口普查数据所代表的他们的脆弱性描述相一致。该项目将为社会经济地位如何影响沿海灾害适应和缓解项目的参与和资源分配提供新的见解。它将扩大危害理论，纳入批判种族理论的要素，并引入边缘化和便利化的政治生态学概念。该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决策者通过适应规划项目减轻社会脆弱性。项目调查结果也将协助资源规划者长期管理沿海资源。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一个强大的独立研究生涯。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易受灾害影响？(2)这些人群如何认识和理解这些危害？社会脆弱性指数（SoVI）等基于人口普查的建模方法将用于识别和绘制弱势群体及其对多种沿海灾害的暴露程度。此外，学生将通过半结构化访谈、参与者观察和不同人群的生计使用空间草图来研究对脆弱性的不同理解和概念。这些分析将使决策者和规划者了解脆弱性方面现有的不平等现象，并就将对边缘化或代表性不足人口的影响降到最低的政策提供指导。

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.