patrickbdevaney/mia9 · Datasets at Hugging Face

text stringlengths 0 6.44k
busways
Department of transit and public
works, commissioners, neighbors
and community members,
employers, transit alliance, use
Facebook and digital tools for
outreach
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000041.t004
PLOS CLIMATE
Advancing a hyperlocal approach to community engagement in climate adaptation
PLOS Climate \| https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000041 June 8, 2022 20 / 26
The design thinking portion of the workshop coalesced items of greatest concern to propose desired outcomes and viable paths forward with the input of community leaders. That
residents of the two neighborhoods focused on different sets of threats and vulnerabilities
underscores the importance of the hyperlocal approach to capture greater nuance than more
conventional solicitations of public opinion (e.g., townhalls or public hearings). The combination of photovoice and design thinking also enables individuals first to contemplate issues in
their neighborhoods that concern them, and second to hear, in a constructive space, the concerns of others. Having shared their lived experiences, participants are enabled by the design
thinking process to envision, and with the partnership of community organizations and government agency representatives, implement desired outcomes, transforming the common
practice of expert-driven, top-down proposals that seek community buy-in, into a community-based collaborative process. For policymakers, the potential to integrate the ICRA with
workshop results can enhance the capacity to provide locally scaled initiatives.
Overall, our approach addresses multiple gaps in the literature. First, we address calls for
improving methods of community engaged processes [e.g., 14, 15] by demonstrating how a
unique integration of photovoice and design thinking–developed through the lens of communication design [e.g., 19–21] can transform the shortcomings of each process as they are currently practiced into a more desired and normative process. Specifically, the HyLo method
addresses two of the major limitations reported in the photovoice literature–engagement with
policy makers and critical discussion [41, 44]. Our process builds relationships with policy
makers from the beginning of the engagement, with member coming from the first workshop
and, as their commitment grows, leveraging their connections to invite and include more (and
more relevant) participation by members of other governmental offices in the final exhibition
and discussion. The outcomes of this integrated process were evident as community members
voiced their grievances and frustrations as well their proposals for solutions, enabling policy
makers to dive deeper into the concerns raised, gather additional information, and provide
both immediate and long-range assistance.
Additionally, the inclusion of design thinking provides a mechanism to increase critical discussion around problems and solutions in ways that individual presentations of photovoice
stories do not [41, 44]. When looking at the results of photovice, we see primarily the reporting
of the stories and narratives–reporting on critical discussions, moves toward solutions, or
engagement with policy makers is seldom reported. Additionally, through this process of integrating photovoice and design thinking we show how the process of design thinking can
become a grassroots process focused on the lived experiences of community members.
Through bringing their own experiences to life through photovoice, then using those narratives to drive toward solutions, the process is flipped from the typical top-down approach
focused on a predetermined set of options present in many design thinking studies [47, 50].
In addition to the advances in community engaged processes that our method brings, we
see this work adding to the growing body of knowledge focused on local knowledge and local
adaptation. Specifically, our work addresses calls for comparative analysis of local communities
through community based research approaches [35] and demonstrates how local perceptions
of risks and needs vary within a larger decision-making geography. While the two communities in our study have somewhat similar risk profiles in our ICRA, the process of hyperlocal
storytelling and design thinking show the variation in perceived risk and opportunity by community, and that there is room for adaptation beyond the large scale infrastructure approaches
that are prevalent in South Florida.
This work also contributes to advancing the body of knowledge on mapping and the role of
geospatial data in examining risk [22]. We demonstrate a process by which geospatial data on
social, built environment, and physical risk can be combined to provide a different way to
PLOS CLIMATE
Advancing a hyperlocal approach to community engagement in climate adaptation
PLOS Climate \| https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000041 June 8, 2022 21 / 26
assess community risk. While our communities were fairly similar on overall risk scores based
on the ICRA, when looking at the visual representation of risk on the maps, it is clear that risk
varies dramatically at the hyperlocal levels of neighborhood parcels or blocks. Additionally, we
see the ICRA as a tool which can be modified to account for risk in different ways–with
weightings of risk entered and adjusted based on evaluations by community members or policy makers. This would move the ICRA beyond an equal weighting for each factor, to a tool
that could prioritize certain concerns. For instance, social vulnerabilities could be weighted
more heavily to account for ongoing social or economic inequalities that affect individual and
community ability to adapt to risk.
Challenges in community-based participatory research during a global
pandemic
While we see valuable outcomes from the HyLo method, conducting community based participatory research during a global pandemic is not without challenges. Working in communities
using digital and online tools reveals both opportunities and the presence of an ongoing digital
divide and the limits of online collaboration tools. Recent research suggests that online convenings for academic conferences have the potential to increase access and diversity in participation [57–59]. We saw definite advantages as participants were able to join in calls from
home and even on their commute from work, relieving the burden of finding childcare or
transportation to a central location, for example. However, some participants struggled with
viewing and annotating on small screens, such as smart phones, struggled with submitting
photos to the workshops, and had difficulty accessing digital mapping tools. While we provided trainings on these tools at the start of our workshops, new tools should be mobile device
friendly, and facilitators need to be adept at finding workarounds.
We also found that a number of participants were interested in learning more mapping
skills and in the brief time were able to identify some important intersections between climate
and social data. We noticed throughout the sessions a progressive advancement of participants’ skillsets and increased levels of observation and assertiveness. We had not expected the
degree to which participants, who had little to no experience with mapping, would be eager to
engage with the online maps. This pushed our HyLo team to create a dedicated online map
portal to enable ongoing participant access and to shift from static to interactive map engagement. County staff members are now also using this HyLo map portal in their resilience work.
This experience has further inspired us to consider developing a protocol for integrating the
photovoice work within the map sets to increase the ability to represent hyperlocal issues
through geotagging and story mapping.
We had mixed findings on individual and community capacity, but even online we
increased a sense of community connection and we see potential in this online format for
increased individual and community capacity; at the same time, would appreciate an opportunity to measure whether engagement, connection, and capacity would improve in face-to-face
workshops. While our method was able to tap into community concerns and provide voice to
community members, we would seek to add a measure to assess impact on policy makers as
well as to monitor implementation of long term solutions.
Conclusion
The HyLo method is grounded in an awareness that an urgent need exists for integrated, interdisciplinary knowledge to address the multitude and magnitude of conditions associated with
climate change, and premised on the understanding that it is possible to elicit and map differential vulnerabilities that impact capacity to adapt [22]. Even more urgent, is the need for the
PLOS CLIMATE
Advancing a hyperlocal approach to community engagement in climate adaptation
PLOS Climate \| https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000041 June 8, 2022 22 / 26
co-production with, and application of, knowledge by those most affected by current and
future climate effects. This approach seeks to engage the community directly in observation,
knowledge building, and the development of adaptation strategies. Further evaluation of the
HyLo method and potential community-led solutions can inform further application in new
circumstances. Outcomes can lead to hyperlocal adaptation initiatives that can ameliorate conditions for communities, providing climate responsive alternatives to improve daily local life
that address each neighborhood’s unique concerns that are distinct from ongoing or forthcoming large-scale infrastructure projects. Long term, widespread utilization of this approach
could result in a portfolio of hyperlocal adaptation solutions that can be matched to communities based on similarities across their ICRAs. This work provides a foundation for a new
approach to policymaking through which the community becomes the change agent. The
impact of this transformation would expand the landscape of climate adaptation and create
opportunities for action at multiple levels, across domains, and with potentially powerful physical, social, and economic outcomes.

busways

Department of transit and public

works, commissioners, neighbors

and community members,

employers, transit alliance, use

Facebook and digital tools for

outreach

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000041.t004

PLOS CLIMATE

Advancing a hyperlocal approach to community engagement in climate adaptation

PLOS Climate | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000041 June 8, 2022 20 / 26

The design thinking portion of the workshop coalesced items of greatest concern to propose desired outcomes and viable paths forward with the input of community leaders. That

residents of the two neighborhoods focused on different sets of threats and vulnerabilities

underscores the importance of the hyperlocal approach to capture greater nuance than more

conventional solicitations of public opinion (e.g., townhalls or public hearings). The combination of photovoice and design thinking also enables individuals first to contemplate issues in

their neighborhoods that concern them, and second to hear, in a constructive space, the concerns of others. Having shared their lived experiences, participants are enabled by the design

thinking process to envision, and with the partnership of community organizations and government agency representatives, implement desired outcomes, transforming the common

practice of expert-driven, top-down proposals that seek community buy-in, into a community-based collaborative process. For policymakers, the potential to integrate the ICRA with

workshop results can enhance the capacity to provide locally scaled initiatives.

Overall, our approach addresses multiple gaps in the literature. First, we address calls for

improving methods of community engaged processes [e.g., 14, 15] by demonstrating how a

unique integration of photovoice and design thinking–developed through the lens of communication design [e.g., 19–21] can transform the shortcomings of each process as they are currently practiced into a more desired and normative process. Specifically, the HyLo method

addresses two of the major limitations reported in the photovoice literature–engagement with

policy makers and critical discussion [41, 44]. Our process builds relationships with policy

makers from the beginning of the engagement, with member coming from the first workshop

and, as their commitment grows, leveraging their connections to invite and include more (and

more relevant) participation by members of other governmental offices in the final exhibition

and discussion. The outcomes of this integrated process were evident as community members

voiced their grievances and frustrations as well their proposals for solutions, enabling policy

makers to dive deeper into the concerns raised, gather additional information, and provide

both immediate and long-range assistance.

Additionally, the inclusion of design thinking provides a mechanism to increase critical discussion around problems and solutions in ways that individual presentations of photovoice

stories do not [41, 44]. When looking at the results of photovice, we see primarily the reporting

of the stories and narratives–reporting on critical discussions, moves toward solutions, or

engagement with policy makers is seldom reported. Additionally, through this process of integrating photovoice and design thinking we show how the process of design thinking can

become a grassroots process focused on the lived experiences of community members.

Through bringing their own experiences to life through photovoice, then using those narratives to drive toward solutions, the process is flipped from the typical top-down approach

focused on a predetermined set of options present in many design thinking studies [47, 50].

In addition to the advances in community engaged processes that our method brings, we

see this work adding to the growing body of knowledge focused on local knowledge and local

adaptation. Specifically, our work addresses calls for comparative analysis of local communities

through community based research approaches [35] and demonstrates how local perceptions

of risks and needs vary within a larger decision-making geography. While the two communities in our study have somewhat similar risk profiles in our ICRA, the process of hyperlocal

storytelling and design thinking show the variation in perceived risk and opportunity by community, and that there is room for adaptation beyond the large scale infrastructure approaches

that are prevalent in South Florida.

This work also contributes to advancing the body of knowledge on mapping and the role of

geospatial data in examining risk [22]. We demonstrate a process by which geospatial data on

social, built environment, and physical risk can be combined to provide a different way to

PLOS CLIMATE

Advancing a hyperlocal approach to community engagement in climate adaptation

PLOS Climate | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000041 June 8, 2022 21 / 26

assess community risk. While our communities were fairly similar on overall risk scores based

on the ICRA, when looking at the visual representation of risk on the maps, it is clear that risk

varies dramatically at the hyperlocal levels of neighborhood parcels or blocks. Additionally, we

see the ICRA as a tool which can be modified to account for risk in different ways–with

weightings of risk entered and adjusted based on evaluations by community members or policy makers. This would move the ICRA beyond an equal weighting for each factor, to a tool

that could prioritize certain concerns. For instance, social vulnerabilities could be weighted

more heavily to account for ongoing social or economic inequalities that affect individual and

community ability to adapt to risk.

Challenges in community-based participatory research during a global

pandemic

While we see valuable outcomes from the HyLo method, conducting community based participatory research during a global pandemic is not without challenges. Working in communities

using digital and online tools reveals both opportunities and the presence of an ongoing digital

divide and the limits of online collaboration tools. Recent research suggests that online convenings for academic conferences have the potential to increase access and diversity in participation [57–59]. We saw definite advantages as participants were able to join in calls from

home and even on their commute from work, relieving the burden of finding childcare or

transportation to a central location, for example. However, some participants struggled with

viewing and annotating on small screens, such as smart phones, struggled with submitting

photos to the workshops, and had difficulty accessing digital mapping tools. While we provided trainings on these tools at the start of our workshops, new tools should be mobile device

friendly, and facilitators need to be adept at finding workarounds.

We also found that a number of participants were interested in learning more mapping

skills and in the brief time were able to identify some important intersections between climate

and social data. We noticed throughout the sessions a progressive advancement of participants’ skillsets and increased levels of observation and assertiveness. We had not expected the

degree to which participants, who had little to no experience with mapping, would be eager to

engage with the online maps. This pushed our HyLo team to create a dedicated online map

portal to enable ongoing participant access and to shift from static to interactive map engagement. County staff members are now also using this HyLo map portal in their resilience work.

This experience has further inspired us to consider developing a protocol for integrating the

photovoice work within the map sets to increase the ability to represent hyperlocal issues

through geotagging and story mapping.

We had mixed findings on individual and community capacity, but even online we

increased a sense of community connection and we see potential in this online format for

increased individual and community capacity; at the same time, would appreciate an opportunity to measure whether engagement, connection, and capacity would improve in face-to-face

workshops. While our method was able to tap into community concerns and provide voice to

community members, we would seek to add a measure to assess impact on policy makers as

well as to monitor implementation of long term solutions.

Conclusion

The HyLo method is grounded in an awareness that an urgent need exists for integrated, interdisciplinary knowledge to address the multitude and magnitude of conditions associated with

climate change, and premised on the understanding that it is possible to elicit and map differential vulnerabilities that impact capacity to adapt [22]. Even more urgent, is the need for the

PLOS CLIMATE

Advancing a hyperlocal approach to community engagement in climate adaptation

PLOS Climate | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000041 June 8, 2022 22 / 26

co-production with, and application of, knowledge by those most affected by current and

future climate effects. This approach seeks to engage the community directly in observation,

knowledge building, and the development of adaptation strategies. Further evaluation of the

HyLo method and potential community-led solutions can inform further application in new

circumstances. Outcomes can lead to hyperlocal adaptation initiatives that can ameliorate conditions for communities, providing climate responsive alternatives to improve daily local life

that address each neighborhood’s unique concerns that are distinct from ongoing or forthcoming large-scale infrastructure projects. Long term, widespread utilization of this approach

could result in a portfolio of hyperlocal adaptation solutions that can be matched to communities based on similarities across their ICRAs. This work provides a foundation for a new

approach to policymaking through which the community becomes the change agent. The

impact of this transformation would expand the landscape of climate adaptation and create

opportunities for action at multiple levels, across domains, and with potentially powerful physical, social, and economic outcomes.