Recent professional project examples available at www.capastrategies.com:
Los Angeles Urban Forest Equity Collective
Family Resources for Extreme Weather
Past Projects
Conservation Social Science:
Agency, Sense of Place & Knowledge on the Zumwalt Prairie
Shifting and often diminishing environmental conditions, due to climate change, resource loss, and ecosystem degradation, pose a significant concern to both social and ecological systems. The field of conservation science has attempted to address environmental threats through varying approaches, transitioning from fortress conservation and complete human exclusion to community-based and co-managed models which incorporate human actors and social dimensions in the conservation process. The latest iteration of conservation scholarship, place-based conservation, is deeply rooted in interdisciplinary, social scientific thinking, and calls for significant practitioner engagement with local knowledge, practices, social constructions, and place meanings. It is an approach which emphasizes situated socio-ecological conditions and capacities. Though place-based conservation holds great promise for inclusive, socially conscious, and ecologically effective practice, the field remains largely theoretical, and its effects have not been well studied through empirical research. This dissertation makes two notable contributions to the field of place-based conservation. Firstly, a novel boundary object framework is presented which can serve to guide research, and facilitate cross-disciplinary discussions among conservation scientists, bridging the gap between place-based theory and practice. Secondly, a conservation site, the Zumwalt Prairie and Preserve, is studied from three distinct angles: agency, sense of place, and knowledge. These studies elucidate key social dynamics influencing conservation behavior around the site and add empirical evidence to the field.
Environmental Health:
Oregon 2050
“What will Oregon look like in 2050 and beyond? Oregon 2050 is an effort to be visionary and collaborate across traditional silos and outside of the constraints of planning as it has been constrained by practice and law, for a more environmentally sustainable, socially equitable, and fiscally resilient future. Oregon 2050 offers “big ideas” about how our state will welcome a projected more than one million new residents (relative to the population in 2020), and how we can face challenges and uncertainties about the future, such as the impacts of climate change, ongoing social inequities, and major changes in technology and to the economy.” - Oregon 2050 Overview
This chapter on Environmental Health (part of the larger Oregon 2050 report) highlights the current state of centralized health data across Oregon; differences in environmental health conditions between neighborhoods, reservations, cities, towns, and other localities; and discrepancies between numerical representations and lived experience. A review of existing health data, supplemented by illustrative case studies and bolstered by input from community partners (Beyond Toxics, Oregon Health Authority, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation), reveals that comprehensive data are sorely lacking at both a statewide and local level, particularly for rural counties. Furthermore, quantitative data which drive current policy and programming often paint an unrealistically rosy picture of environmental health, and obscure pockets of suffering endured by Oregon’s most marginalized residents (Indigenous persons, immigrants, non-white and low-income individuals). The chapter concludes with recommendations for more complete, place-based, qualitative, and equity-based data collection moving forward, as well as a more complex conceptualization of environmental health.
Collaborating for Climate Equity:
Researcher-Practitioner Case Studies
Climate change is a complex issue that demands inter/cross-disciplinary action, and would benefit from functional collaborations between researchers and practitioners. While the latter design plans and influence policy, the former collect meaningful data, introduce novel perspectives grounded in theory, and can offer unconventional analyses; both may inform the priorities and focal areas pursued by the other. This topic is explored in an upcoming book under contract with Routledge and co-edited by Vivek Shandas & Dana Hellman, titled Collaborating for Climate Equity Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships in the Americas.
Abstract: Climate change poses an existential and ever-growing threat to human life as we know it. The planet is warming, changing, and in some cases becoming unrecognizable. Urban areas, wherein a majority of the global population dwells, are particularly vulnerable to a myriad of climate stressors, the effects of which may be amplified by challenging socio-political conditions. A problem so enormous, complex, and multi-faceted as climate change cannot be solved by a single discipline, sector, or agency alone, but demands collaborative action. While there is growing interest in and opportunity for researcher-practitioner collaboration as a means of understanding and responding to climate change, the processes, structures, and dynamics of this approach remain understudied. In this edited volume, we present five case studies from the U.S. and Latin America, each exploring the details of a researcher-practitioner collaboration in pursuit of climate change adaptation, and each authored by researcher-practitioner teams. While the case studies provide specific examples, the book also generalizes findings for broad application across multiple geographies and climate stressors. This work contributes to a nascent knowledge base on the real-world challenges and opportunities associated with researcher-practitioner partnerships, and provides guidance to those involved in collaborative research, planning, and policymaking.
Future Visioning:
Portland Scenarios Workshops
The scenarios workshops are performed in all cities affiliated with the UREx Sustainability Research Network (SRN). SRN Portland faculty and research fellows organized two workshops in September and November 2019. These events brought together planning practitioners, managers, and other municipal employees from around the city (e.g., Portland Bureau of Planning & Sustainability, Bureau of Environmental Services, Bureau of Emergency Management, Water Bureau) to envision a resilient future. Participants worked together to develop potential scenarios, goals, and strategies to build resilience in the year 2080, addressing pertinent environmental concerns including flooding, earthquakes, urban heat, and multi-hazard conditions.
Socio-demographic analyses used in workshops (credit: Dana Hellman)
Full report on Scenarios Workshop #1 (credit: Thad Miller & team)
Open Educational Resource:
Community Resilience to Climate Change
Community Resilience to Climate Change: Theory, Research & Practice is an open educational resource published by the Portland State University Library. This comprehensive reader brings together notable works from the field of climate resilience and adaptation, and includes original text, classroom exercises, and student assignments developed by co-authors Dana Hellman & Vivek Shandas. Content covers the evolution of modern resilience discourse (from status quo to adaptation and transformation), offers practical tips for operationalizing resilience, and addresses the relationship between climate resilience and social-environmental justice. Sections include Introduction & Key Concepts; Resilience in Theory; Identifying & Evaluating Resilience; Resilience in Practice; and Future Directions.
Authors’ Note from the text: This reader is meant to accompany a graduate or higher-level undergraduate university course in climate change resilience, adaptation, and/or planning. While the material is geared toward students in urban and regional planning, it may also be of interest to students of urban studies, public health, geography, political science, sociology, risk management, and others. Each section of this volume includes (1) an introductory summary, (2) a reading list with full text articles, (3) student exercises meant to enhance understanding and facilitate in-class discussion, and (4) additional discussion prompts or activities for instructors to use in class. The format of materials is intended to convey key concepts, while leaving ample space for student exploration, discourse, and creativity. Lessons may culminate in an applied, imaginative final project, a sample framework of which is provided at the end of Section VI.
Climate Risk & Equity:
Heat, Flooding & Green Infrastructure in Portland
Urban heat and flooding are two of the greatest climate threats facing Portlanders. In a city known for its urban canopy, green streets, and eco-friendly mentality, green infrastructure offers the promise of reprieve from worsening conditions. However, numerous studies have shown that (a) climate risk and exposure are not evenly experienced across the city, and differ by socio-economic status, and (b) green infrastructure is not evenly distributed and may exacerbate inequality by stimulating green gentrification and displacement in underserved neighborhoods. Below are some examples of publications, projects, and partnerships undertaken to support understanding of and responses to climate hazards, environmental injustices, and resilience in and around Portland. In many cases, findings detailed in scholarly publications have been shared with and/or discovered with the assistance of practitioners and community members. This work centers concepts of equity and justice around climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience-building.
Relevant Publications
Shandas, V. & Hellman, D. (2022) Towards an equitable distribution of urban green spaces for people and landscapes: A opportunity for Portland’s green grid. In Nakamura, F. (Ed.), Green infrastructure and climate change adaptation (pp. 289-301). Springer. doi:10.1007/978-981-16-6791-6_18
Haeffner, M., & Hellman, D. (2020) Social geometry of collaborative flood risk management: A hydrosocial case study of Tillamook County, Oregon. Natural Hazards, 103. doi:10.1007/s11069-020-04131-4
Makido, Y., Hellman, D., & Shandas, V. (2019) Nature based designs to mitigate urban heat: The efficacy of green infrastructure treatments in Portland, Oregon. Atmosphere, 10(5). doi:10.3390/atmos10050282
Voelkel, J., Hellman, D., Sakuma, R., & Shandas, V. (2018) Assessing vulnerability to urban heat: A study of disproportionate heat exposure and access to refuge by socio-demographic status in Portland, Oregon. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15(4). doi:10.3390/ijerph15040640
Presentations & Reports
Hellman, D. City of Portland: Conditions, Exposure Factors, Key Infrastructure, Socio-Demographics, Governance. UREx Sustainability Research Network Scenarios Workshop. Portland, Oregon. September 26, 2019. [link to PDF]
Hellman, D. “The cost of extreme heat: A cost/benefit analysis of three heat-ameliorating interventions in Portland, Oregon.” Urban Ecosystems Resource Consortium (UERC) Symposium. Portland, Oregon. February 5, 2018.
Field Work & Partnerships
Research with the UREx Sustainability Research Network
Consultation for CAPA Strategies, Growing Capacity
Field Data Collection for CAPA Strategies, Urban Heat Watch Campaign