Case Baumwart | 2025 I.S. Symposium

Name: Case Baumwart
Title: Natural Disaster Planning in Informal Settlements
Major: Urban Studies
Advisor: Heather Fitz Gibbon

Informal Settlements are a growing reality in urban spaces. These marginalized areas are often at the forefront of environmental hazards. Settlements can experience flooding, earthquakes, and landslides among other disasters. In this paper, I will explore how the composition of informal communities in the Chilean city of Valparaíso are affected by urban wildfires. My analysis makes use of data from over 20,000 informal residents in the Valparaíso Region, as well as spatial data on fire appearances from 2023 to 2024 to find a correlation between settlement characteristics and their proximity to wildfires.
High fire risk areas were less educated, contained a high proportion of bought and rented parcels, and that these parcels were further developed compared to low fire risk areas. I suggest that, to promote effective disaster risk reduction within informal spaces, the state must fully legalize these areas and encourage community action to improve settlement conditions.

Posted in Symposium 2025 on May 1, 2025.