Reparative planning through contextual vulnerabilities for disaster mitigation: a Gulf Coast case study

Purpose Reparative planning, when paired with participatory research, can serve as a framework for addressing ongoing harms that enable disaster racism while building toward more equitable disaster mitigation. This paper discusses the intersection between disparate disaster impacts, environmental racism, compounding disasters and the role of contextualizing vulnerability. Design/methodology/approach A participatory research framework is explored in the context of disaster recovery and mitigation, which led to uncovering the roots of institutional vulnerabilities experienced by the predominantly Black community of North Port St. Joe, Florida. Findings The main findings include the significance of situated knowledge in the relational participatory process, the importance of redistributing decision-making power and the development of a desire-based reparative disaster mitigation framework in local hazard mitigation planning. Social implications Disaster impacts compound historic and ongoing environmental racisms, resulting in racialized disasters. Legacies of historic harms such as the placement of waste, infrastructural disinvestment and discriminatory housing policies present immediate and ongoing challenges in disaster recovery and mitigation. The compounding disaster of physical risks, environmental pollution and structural racism is a result of white supremacy and racial hierarchies mechanized through planning institutions, paradigms, co-opted narratives and political power. Originality/value Reparative planning must be applied to contextualize and address disaster racisms specific to regional historicized political and economic geographies. It is imperative to understand the root of vulnerability as structural racism and to identify the specific institutional mechanisms that enable ongoing harms.