SCARP Speaker Series presents: Dr. Theo Lim

In SCARP’s Speaker Series, we gather keen minds in planning and several other fields, with insights from UBC, Vancouver, and beyond, to tackle the big challenges we face today and how our fields intersect to solve them. Our Speaker Series is a great reminder of how transdisciplinary the planning field is (at its best). Join us to hear fresh perspectives, participate in rich discussions, and be in community with others passionate about building a livable urban future.

Launching our 2024/2025 season, “Innovative approaches to community engagement”:

Dr. Theo Lim,
Associate Professor, Policy and Community Engagement for Urban Transformation, UBC SCARP,
presents:

Trauma-Informed, Healing-Centered Climate Adaptation Planning with Youth in Roanoke, Virginia

Climate change is increasing the frequency, intensity, and duration of heat waves and is expected to increase their impact on human health and the economy. Urban planning interventions can help communities reduce risk. However, community capacity and trust must be built in a way that recognizes the lived experiences of historically marginalized communities. 

In this talk, I will present my experiences leading a one-year, $1M USD participatory action research project in a predominantly African American community in Roanoke, VA. The project involved building contexts of sense-making and organizing strategic collaborative action between government, nonprofit, academic partners, and youth and adult residents. In our work, which centered working with youth in planning, trauma and healing emerged as major themes that we continuously worked to define and redefine. This is still work in progress, but the talk will probably touch on: emotionally-engaged planning, community-engaged teaching and learning, and meanings of “resilience.”