Coproducing resilience through understanding vulnerability

In this chapter the authors argue for using coproduction as a model for urban resilience, based on a recent collaborative project between planners and researchers. They review the findings of four collaborative workshops of neighborhood-scale climate adaptation, using spatial and statistical analyses, as well as posit the conceptual framework underlying the project’s collaborative rationality. Their assessment is from two perspectives: (1) an academic, phenomenological lens; and (2) a pragmatic lens. They argue that, in order to understand resilience, we must first ask the question “Resilience to what and for whom?†To that end, they consider what characterizes those communities that are affected by two major urban environmental hazards, namely air pollution and urban heat, in the city of Portland, Oregon in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. Empirically, the authors explore neighborhood-level exposure to air pollution and extreme heat, as well as these spatially defined communities’ physiological sensitivity to the two hazards, and their social capacity to adapt to them. Phenomenologically, the authors argue that this collaboration is an effort in coproduction, encapsulating cooperation between scientific experts and governmental authorities in the production of knowledge toward a socially determined goal in the public interest.