The Experts below are selected from a list of 1452 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Jon E Keeley - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the importance of building construction materials relative to other factors affecting structure survival during wildfire
International journal of disaster risk reduction, 2017Co-Authors: Alexandra D Syphard, Teresa J Brennan, Jon E KeeleyAbstract:Abstract Structure loss to wildfire is a serious problem in wildland-urban interface areas across the world. Laboratory experiments suggest that fire-resistant building construction and design could be important for reducing structure destruction, but these need to be evaluated under real wildfire conditions, especially relative to other factors. Using empirical data from destroyed and surviving structures from large wildfires in southern California, we evaluated the relative importance of building construction and structure age compared to other local and landscape-scale variables associated with structure survival. The local-scale analysis showed that window preparation was especially important but, in general, creating Defensible Space adjacent to the home was as important as building construction. At the landscape scale, structure density and structure age were the two most important factors affecting structure survival, but there was a significant interaction between them. That is, young structure age was most important in higher-density areas where structure survival overall was more likely. On the other hand, newer-construction structures were less likely to survive wildfires at lower density. Here, appropriate Defensible Space near the structure and accessibility to major roads were important factors. In conclusion, community safety is a multivariate problem that will require a comprehensive solution involving land use planning, fire-safe construction, and property maintenance.
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the role of Defensible Space for residential structure protection during wildfires
International Journal of Wildland Fire, 2014Co-Authors: Alexandra D Syphard, Teresa J Brennan, Jon E KeeleyAbstract:With the potential for worsening fire conditions, discussion is escalating over how to best reduce effects on urban communities. A widely supported strategy is the creation of Defensible Space immediately surrounding homes and other structures. Although state and local governments publish specific guidelines and requirements, there is little empirical evidence to suggest how much vegetation modification is needed to provide significant benefits. We analysed the roleofDefensible Spacebymappingandmeasuringasuite ofvariables onmodernpre-fire aerialphotographyfor1000 destroyed and 1000 surviving structures for all fires where homes burned from 2001 to 2010 in San Diego County, CA, USA.StructuresweremorelikelytosurviveafirewithDefensibleSpaceimmediatelyadjacenttothem.Themosteffective treatment distance varied between 5 and 20 m (16-58 ft) from the structure, but distances larger than 30 m (100 ft) did not provideadditionalprotection,evenforstructureslocatedonsteepslopes.Themosteffectiveactionswerereducingwoody cover up to 40% immediately adjacent to structures and ensuring that vegetation does not overhang or touch the structure. Multiple-regression models showed landscape-scale factors, including low housing density and distances to major roads, were more important in explaining structure destruction. The best long-term solution will involve a suite of prevention measures that include Defensible Space as well as building design approach, community education and proactive land use planning that limits exposure to fire.
Bruce Shindler - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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policy tools to encourage community level Defensible Space in the united states a tale of six communities
Journal of Rural Studies, 2014Co-Authors: Melanie Stidham, Sarah Mccaffrey, Eric Toman, Bruce ShindlerAbstract:Within the wildlandeurban interface (WUI), wildfire risk contains both individual and collective components. The likelihood that a particular home will be threatened by wildfire in any given year is low, but at a broader scale the likelihood that a home somewhere in the WUI will be threatened is substantially higher. From a risk mitigation perspective, individuals may take a number of actions to reduce risk exposure, but their risk is lowered even further when neighboring properties also take mitigation measures. Collectively, risk mitigation on individual properties lowers both individual and communitylevel risk. Multiple factors contribute to whether or not an individual will take action to reduce their risk; when an individual opts to not implement risk mitigation measures that would be beneficial from a community standpoint, community leaders can use a variety of policy tools to encourage the individual to adopt an action or change their behavior. As proposed by Schneider and Ingram in 1990, these include passing rules or regulations, building capacity, providing incentives, and establishing community norms. As part of a larger longitudinal study on WUI communities in the western United States, we reviewed approaches used by six communities in Idaho, Oregon and Utah to mitigate interdependent wildfire risk at two points in time. Each community’s approach was different, being well suited to meet the community’s specific needs. The most consistent policy tool utilized across communities was capacitybuilding, primarily through raising awareness of fire hazards and potential mitigation behaviors and leveraging external resources. Another commonality was the involvement of a central group or individual that provided leadership by initiating and championing the mitigation effort and serving as a link to external resources. There are a number of other communities in the WUI that are also at risk for wildfire; these findings can be useful to community members and agency personnel who are seeking to engage residents to reduce individual and collective risk. Within our communities, several different approaches have been effective at encouraging homeowners to adopt and maintain mitigation activities ranging from collective efforts organized locally to others developed externally to provide incentives or potential punishments for not adopting treatments. Understanding the diversity of approaches and activities that have fostered mitigation can help managers identify what will work best for their specific communities.
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outreach programs peer pressure and common sense what motivates homeowners to mitigate wildfire risk
Environmental Management, 2011Co-Authors: Sarah Mccaffrey, Melanie Stidham, Eric Toman, Bruce ShindlerAbstract:In recent years, altered forest conditions, climate change, and the increasing numbers of homes built in fire prone areas has meant that wildfires are affecting more people. An important part of minimizing the potential negative impacts of wildfire is engaging homeowners in mitigating the fire hazard on their land. It is therefore important to understand what makes homeowners more or less willing to take action. The research presented here comes from a study that interviewed a total of 198 homeowners in six communities in the western United States about the activities they had undertaken to mitigate their fire risk, the factors that contributed to their decisions, and their future intentions. The current paper reports on findings from the first half of the longitudinal study, after 3 years we will return to interview the current homeowner on the same properties to assess maintenance actions and facilitating and limiting factors. Overall we found a body of individuals who understand the fire risk, are taking numerous mitigation actions, and think that these actions have reduced their risk. These homeowners typically did not expect the government to do it for them: they wanted information about what to do and, in some cases, assistance with the work, but saw taking care of their property primarily as their responsibility. Responses also show that key information sources and motivating factors vary by location and that it is not inherently necessary to have relationships between community members to create Defensible Space.
Martha C Monroe - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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communicating with homeowners in the interface about Defensible Space
In: McCaffrey S.M. tech. ed. The public and wildland fire management: social science findings for managers. Gen. Tech. Rep. NRS-1. Newtown Square PA: , 2006Co-Authors: Martha C Monroe, Michelle PaytonAbstract:Although resource managers encourage residents to create Defensible Space, many report that homeowners still live in risky landscapes. This study explores the perceptions and attitudes of Minnesota and Florida interface homeowners toward their local landscape. By using in-depth interviews, we gained a better understanding of landscape values, preferences, and activities related to Defensible Space, vegetation management, and willingness to reduce wildfire risk. We believe that emphasizing relevant values (wildlife, naturalness, privacy, and recreation opportunities); acknowledging the complexity of wildfire; and suggesting a number of benefits to creating Defensible Space could be helpful communication techniques to motivate residents. It is crucial that managers listen to residents to understand what they care about, what information is missing in their perception of the risk, and what type of support will best encourage change.
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the look of the land homeowner landscape management and wildfire preparedness in minnesota and florida
Society & Natural Resources, 2005Co-Authors: Kristen C Nelson, Martha C Monroe, Jayne Fingerman JohnsonAbstract:ABSTRACT Many forest and fire agencies seek to influence homeowners to manage vegetation near their home to reduce wildfire risk. To be successful managers need to understand the range of existing landscape typologies based on a Defensible Space evaluation, homeowners' activities for wildfire preparedness, and what they value in landscape attributes. Interviews and visits with 80 homeowners at risk of wildfire in the wildland–urban interface of northern Minnesota and central Florida reveal that respondents managed for “naturalness,” valuing their privacy, wildlife, aesthetics, and recreation. Five landscape typologies in Minnesota and four in Florida ranged from wide-open Spaces to homes nestled in the deep woods. The valuing of naturalness was most closely linked to the tendency for a deep woods landscape. Respondents noted that how they manage for what they value as well as the ecosystem they live in partially explained their behavior in creating Defensible Space around their homes.
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the value of assessing public perceptions wildland fire and Defensible Space
Applied Environmental Education & Communication, 2004Co-Authors: Martha C Monroe, Kristen C NelsonAbstract:Fire is a challenge in the wildland-urban interface. Although resource managers encourage residents to create Defensible Space, many do not. This study illustrates the value of using a needs assessment to better understand perceptions of an audience in order to develop meaningful messages and materials. In this case, our audience is residents of forested areas of Florida and Minnesota at risk of wildland fire. By using in-depth interviews, we explore their perceptions of their landscape, their perception of risk, and their willingness to reduce that risk. Their perceptions can be used to evaluate current wildfire communication tools and suggest ways to modify them to inform and change the behavior of residents. Printed materials emphasis the threat of fire and what to do. Interview data suggest that emphasizing relevant values: privacy, wildlife, and recreation opportunities, as well as acknowledging neighborhood norms, could be helpful to motivate residents when the threat of fire is not sufficient.
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living with fire homeowner assessment of landscape values and Defensible Space in minnesota and florida usa
International Journal of Wildland Fire, 2004Co-Authors: Kristen C Nelson, Martha C Monroe, Jayne Fingerman Johnson, Alison BowersAbstract:Homeowners' preferences for vegetation and Defensible Space near their homes were documented for wildfire-prone areas in Florida and Minnesota (USA) through 80 in-depth interviews and home site visits. The dominant preference for 'natural' landscapes was articulated as valuing vegetated views, wildlife, recreation, quiet, solitude, and privacy. Homeowners recognized wildfire risk but varied in their perceptions of effective wildfire prevention measures and willingness to take actions to reduce their risk. Most supported prescribed burns, especially if fire experts who understand the local ecology and fire behavior conduct the burns.
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negotiating guidelines for Defensible Space
Journal of Forestry, 2003Co-Authors: Martha C Monroe, Alan Long, Susan MarynowskiAbstract:Wildland fire is becoming a concern for residents in many eastern states as fuel loads, weather patterns, and population growth increase risk at the wildland-urban interface. Some messages about reducing risk, however, are based on western wildfire information and are seen as inappropriate by wildland fire communicators in Florida. This case study describes the process of reaching agreement on landscape modifications that reduce the risk of wildland fire for interface residents in the Southeast. The melding of various perspectives through a negotiated process helped create a product that meets a need in this fire-prone stale.
Alfi Zulfa Nooraida - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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penerapan prinsip Defensible Space pada strategi perancangan lembaga pembinaan khusus anak kelas i di kutoarjo
Senthong, 2018Co-Authors: Alfi Zulfa Nooraida, Sumaryoto Sumaryoto, Suparno SuparnoAbstract:Lembaga Pembinaan Khusus Anak (LPKA) yang semula bernama Lembaga Pemasyarakatan Anak, merupakan fasilitas pemerintah untuk mewadahi kegiatan pembinaan dan pendidikan kepada anak yang berkonflik dengan hukum, untuk menjalani masa pidana. Perancangan LPKA Kelas I di Kutoarjo, hadir sebagai perancangan LPKA di Jawa Tengah yang mengalami kelebihan kapasitas. Penerapan prinsip Defensible Space digunakan sebagai metode pendekatan desain LPKA, untuk memunculkan desain ruang yang dapat mengurangi kenakalan dan kejahatan. Prinsip Defensible Space yang digunakan adalah: mendekatkan kawasan dengan fasilitas lain, kewilayahan, pengawasan, dan citra bangunan. Penerapan prinsip Defensible Space pada perancangan yaitu tapak berada di lingkungan bangunan pendidikan sebagai pengawasan alami, pengurutan zona berdasarkan tingkat pengawasan, pemberian pembatas zona tidak masif seperti pagar jaring besi supaya memudahkan pengawasan, bentuk massa berbentuk huruf U dimodifikasi agar lebih memudahkan pengawasan, tatanan ruang mengelilingi ruang komunal sebagai pengawasan alami, tampilan bangunan dibuat seperti bangunan pendidikan secara umum karena tapak berada di lingkungan bangunan pendidikan, struktur dan material bangunan digunakan yang umum pada bangunan sekitar agar memberikan kesan bangunan pendidikan, pemilihan vegetasi tidak mengganggu pengawasan, penggunaan utilitas membantu pengawasan seperti kamera CCTV dan menara jaga atas, dan pemberian sekat di setiap tempat tidur Anak Didik LPKA sebagai pembatas teritorial pribadi.
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lembaga pembinaan khusus anak kelas i di kutoarjo dengan pendekatan Defensible Space
2018Co-Authors: Alfi Zulfa NooraidaAbstract:Konsep Perencanaan dan Perancangan, Lembaga Pembinaan Khusus Anak Kelas I di Kutoarjo, menerapkan prinsip dari Defensible Space yaitu Territoriality (Teritorialitas), Surveillance (Pengawasan), Building Image (Citra Bangunan) dan Juxtaposition with Other Facilities (Berdampingan dengan fasilitas lain).
Ralph B Taylor - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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the ecology of empowerment predicting participation in community organizations
Journal of Social Issues, 1996Co-Authors: Douglas D Perkins, Barbara B Brown, Ralph B TaylorAbstract:The community empowerment model of grassroots organizing is briefly described. A particular ecological framework of physical, economic, and social environmental predictors of citizen participation in grassroots community or ganizations is presented. Individual and block-level (contextual) survey and observational data from New York City, Baltimore, and Salt Lake City were used to predict residents' participation in such organizations, cross-sectionally and after a one-year time lag. Longitudinal data from one city were used to predict the viability of block associations seven years later. Crime and fear were unrelated to participation. Defensible Space, territoriality, and physical incivilities were sometimes negatively and sometimes positively related to participation. Income, home ownership, minority status, and residential stability were positively, but inconsistently, related to participation. Community-focused social cognitions (organizational efficacy, civic responsibility, community attachments) and behaviors (neighboring, volunteer work through churches and other community organizations) were consistently and positively predictive of participation at both the individual and block levels. The model explained up to 28% of the variance in individual participation and up to 52% of the variance in block-level participation. Implications for theory, research, and community organizing are discussed.
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the physical environment of street crime Defensible Space territoriality and incivilities
Journal of Environmental Psychology, 1993Co-Authors: Douglas D Perkins, Abraham Wandersman, Richard C Rich, Ralph B TaylorAbstract:Abstract This study systematically examines the physical context of crime on urban residential blocks. A conceptual framework for understanding the relationship of the objective permanent (Defensible Space) and transient (territorial markers and incivilities) physical environment and the subjective environment to crime is presented. Forty-eight blocks were selected from three working-class urban neighborhoods. Data were obtained from four sources: a telephone survey of 1081 randomly sampled residents, a 15-month follow-up survey ( n = 471), block-level police records of 1190 crime complaints, and the Block Booster Environmental Inventory-a new procedure for objectively measuring physical signs of disorder, territoriality and the built environment of 576 homes on all 48 blocks. Five different indicators of block crime were used: perceived crime and delinquency, reported serious and ‘quality-of-life’ crimes, and surveyed victimization rate. All data were aggregated to the block level. Although the various measures of crime were not consistently intercorrelated, objective environmental items correlated more strongly and consistently with the crime indicators than did the subjective environment, even after controlling for the demographic profile of the block. Defensible Space features of the built environment, demographics and, to a lesser extent, the transient environment (disorder and territoriality) contributed significant variance to a series of regression equations explaining up to 60% of the variance in block crime. Implications for environmental criminology and for community policing and crime prevention are discussed.
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fsycitology the physical environment of street crime Defensible Space territoriality and incivilities 1
1993Co-Authors: Douglas D Perkins, Abraham Wandersman, Richard C Rich, Ralph B TaylorAbstract:This study systematically examines the physical context of crime on urban residential blocks. A conceptual framework for understanding the relationship of the objective permanent (Defensible Space) and transient (territorial markers and incivilities) physical environment and the subjective environment to crime is presented. Forty-eight blocks were selected from three working-class urban neighborhoods. Data were obtained from four sources: a telephone survey of 1081 randomly sampled residents, a 15-month follow-up survey (n = 471), block-level police records of 1190 crime complaints, and the Block Booster Environmental Inventory--a new procedure for objectively measuring physical signs of disorder, territoriality and the built environment of 576 homes on all 48 blocks. Five different indicators of block crime were used: perceived crime and delinquency, reported serious and 'quality-of-life' crimes, and surveyed victimization rate. All data were aggregated to the block level. Although the various measures of crime were not consistently intercorrelated, objective environmental items correlated more strongly and consistently with the crime indicators than did the subjective environment, even after controlling for the demographic profile of the block. Defensible Space features of the built environment, demographics and, to a lesser extent, the transient environment (disorder and territoriality) contributed significant variance to a series of regression equations explaining up to 60% of the variance in block crime. Implications for environmental criminology and for community policing and crime prevention are discussed.
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the physical environment of street blocks and resident perceptions of crime and disorder implications for theory and measurement
Journal of Environmental Psychology, 1992Co-Authors: Douglas D Perkins, John W Meeks, Ralph B TaylorAbstract:There are two purposes to the present study. Our methodological purpose is to develop and test a procedure and instrument for assessing crime- and fear-related features of the urban residential environment. We examine three classes of cues: symbols of social and physical disorder, territorial functioning, and architectural 'Defensible Space' features. Past research examining the physical environment correlates of fear of crime has relied almost exclusively on subjective perceptions of the environment rather than on independent and objective measures thereof. Our theoretical purpose is to test the 'disorder' thesis of Skogan, and Wilson and Kelling, that actual physical incivilities erode resident's confidence in their neighborhood and lead them to infer that serious local problems, unrelated to the physical environment, are serious. We conducted environmental assessments and resident interviews (n = 412) on 50 blocks in 50 Baltimore neighborhoods. The assessments demonstrated high levels of inter-rater reliability and concurrent validity, controlling for social class. Regression analyses showed that physical incivilities were independently linked to perceptions of social and crime-related problems. The results show that reliable and valid assessment of crime- and fear-related environmental features can be conducted. They also support the central kernel of the Wilson and Kelling, and Skogan thesis, that the actual presence of disorder-related cues engender perceptions of social and crime problems.
