Reconnecting people, place and culture in Altadena: A community-based recovery framework after a natural disaster

Abstract

Natural disasters and urban crises are on the rise in both frequency and severity, posing threats not only to cities' physical structures but also to communities' cultural identities. The number of people displaced by wildfires, floods, earthquakes, storms, cyclones, and urban crises is in the hundreds of millions, and these crises have damaged both tangible and intangible forms of heritage. Communities with significant historical relevance or that have been historically marginalized bear a disproportionate share of these losses. While increasing evidence indicates that culture is essential for rebuilding resilience after a disaster, most post-disaster recovery and redevelopment frameworks still focus primarily on rebuilding infrastructure without accounting for cultural continuity; thus, communities are at risk of displacement and/or gentrification. Furthermore, communities risk losing their collective identity through culture (UNESCO & The World Bank, 2018; GFDRR, 2019). Altadena suffered greatly as a result of the Eaton fire, which destroyed many buildings in one of the most culturally and historically significant unincorporated regions of Los Angeles County, including the famous Bunny Museum, Zorthian Ranch, Zane Grey Estate, and many local businesses along Lake Avenue. The loss of these places has disrupted the social networks and institutions that help create the community's unique character and its many rituals. This research examines the influence of culture on recovery after disasters by exploring the question: What community strategies should be used to enhance cultural identity in Altadena's neighborhood disaster recovery? The researcher uses a qualitative comparative case study methodology to determine how three unique community examples used culture to support post-disaster recovery planning and compare them with respect to each example's scale, cultural heritage, and experience of disaster or systemic disruption, given that each community is historically marginalized and of color. The comparison of the examples (Claiborne Avenue Corridor of Treme in New Orleans; Sankofa Wetland Park in the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans; Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park) is based upon the community's integration of culture into their planning for recovery after being affected by a disaster or other systemic point of disruption. CURE provides an analytical framework for reviewing all cases, considering both tangible and intangible cultures, in four phases: Damage and Needs Assessment, Policy and Strategy, Financing, and Implementation. The findings indicate that resilient recovery outcomes result from embedding culture throughout all planning phases (not as an afterthought). The example of Treme shows that recovery efforts that prioritize using culture as branding without protection against displacement are at risk. The example of Sankofa Wetland Park is a model of community- and citizen-driven, ecology-based place-making that empowers communities and fosters stewardship for future generations. The example of Allensworth demonstrates that while the state's investments in preserving heritage are important, those efforts will not achieve meaningful impact without also including a commitment to investing in environmental justice and the long-term viability of the communities being served. To support Altadena's efforts to recover culturally from the disaster, this report puts forward recommendations to guide implementation. The research challenges traditional economic recovery paradigms that prioritize physical rebuilding over cultural continuity, proposing an alternative approach in which culture is understood as both, and from the perspective of an organizing framework for an equity-based recovery process, with a particular emphasis on building and maintaining long-term community and cultural resilience. The result of Altadena’s recovery should have a framework similar to CURE’s four-phase model overall and ensure that community members have majority control or ownership of the recovery, alongside government officials and planners. Altadena’s recovery will depend largely on whether residents, practices, and cultural identity are restored once rebuilding is complete.