A PICS-Funded Project: Building Rural & Remote Community Climate Resilience
Project Publications

This page shares the stand-alone publications (e.g., theses) from the project. Check out the project’s branches, which are more sustained and longer explorations of a particular aspect of climate resilience, for our other resources, such as handbooks for communities seeking to develop their fire resilience.

Fire resilience site cover page, showing fireweed with an orange gradient and an icon of a fireweed flower overlaid. Photo credit: Danila Popov

Building Community Fire Resilience

Rammed earth wall with brown gradient and icon of a house overlaid. Photo credit: Neosiam

Investing in Climate-Resilient Buildings

Climate Policy

Community climate resilience framework: a customizable model for adapting to climate change

Ainaz Bozorgzadeh, SFU Individualized Interdisciplinary Studies
October 2025

How can communities plan for climate adaptation rooted in their values? This mixed-methods study finds that participatory engagement of local data and values, and integration of climate adaptation as a proactive component of emergency management, can strengthen climate resiliency planning. The Community Climate Resilience Framework developed in the thesis offers a flexible, actionable model anchored in participatory engagement, well-suited for smaller communities. The study includes recommendations for provincial government, local authorities, and consultants with ways they can support communities to undertake a value-based approach to climate resilience.

View the full report by clicking on this card.

SFU Summit (Thesis Repository)
Housing Policy

Transferring administrative control of on-reserve housing from the federal government to a First Nations Authority: an assessment of opportunities and challenges in BC

Oliver Sowa, SFU Public Policy
April 2025

What are the opportunities and challenges of transferring administrative control of on-reserve housing to a First Nations Authority? The status quo administration and delivery of on-reserve housing in BC have resulted in an inequitable and inadequate housing system, with 30% of homes on reserve needing major repairs or replacement. This policy analysis finds that transferring control of housing to a First Nations Authority could better support equitable resource allocation, the pursuit of self-determination, and provide more culturally relevant, climate-resilient housing options for community members.

View the full report by clicking on this card.

SFU Summit (Thesis Repository)
Wildfire Policy

Adapting to the Smoke: Policymaker Responses to Wildfire-Induced Air Pollution in Metro Vancouver

Sharon Sa, SFU Public Policy
April 2025

How should BC’s policymakers respond to wildfire-induced air pollution? This study finds that income and education (namely, risk perception and awareness) play a significant role in shaping individual-level adaptive capacity. Wildfire smoke adaptation is both a health and climate emergency. It should be recognised and responded to as such through sustained government investment in clean air infrastructure and community-driven outreach that helps all populations adapt to the smoke.

View the full report by clicking on this card.

SFU Summit (Thesis Repository)
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