In recent years, the redistribution of risk has created conditions for natural and technological disasters to become more widespread, more difficult to manage, and more discriminatory in their effects. Policy and planning decision-makers frequently focus on the impact that human settlement patterns, land use decisions, and risky technologies can have on vulnerable populations. However, to ensure safety and promote equity, they also must be familiar with the social and political dynamics that are present at each stage of the disaster management cycle. Therefore, this course will provide students with: 1) An understanding of the breadth of factors that give rise to disaster vulnerability; and 2) A foundation for assessing and managing the social and political processes associated with disaster policy and planning.

This is a course about how research knowledge and other types of knowledge come to be actionable and influential in the world‰ŰÓor not. The course explores ways to make research knowledge more accessible, credible, and useful in the realm of public policy and practice‰ŰÓa project in which the course faculty collectively bring decades of professional experience, in both academic and non-academic roles. The course addresses the politics of the policymaking process, the power of framing and agenda-setting, fads and paradigms in the design professions and society in general, how knowledge diffuses along knowledge and influence networks, and how varied types of knowledge (rational, craft, other) and deliberation shape decision-making and action. The course engages a number of guests to present case studies of research in use (and abuse) in varied fields, highlighting rich areas for potential research contribution, along with major conflicts in public values, political interests, ethical obligations, and more. The resulting dilemmas confront scholars, policymakers, practitioners, and others as they look to research‰ŰÓsometimes‰ŰÓfor useful guidance, influence, or both.