Building Resilient Communities: Waterloo’s Inclusive Resilience Project on Equity and Flood Mapping
Originally published by University Relations
Waterloo is a leader in sustainability research and education. Home to the largest Faculty of Environment in Canada, Waterloo has been a catalyst for environmental innovation, solutions and talent for 50 years.
Partners for Action (P4A), a research initiative in the Faculty of Environment, has released the results of a three-year research project focused on equitable community resilience in the face of climate change, culminating in multiple comprehensive reports.
Their project, Inclusive Resilience: Driving risk awareness to action and building resiliency for vulnerable Canadians in high-risk areas, was conducted in collaboration with the Canadian Red Cross and funded by Public Safety Canada. The project offers insights into social vulnerability—the socio-economic conditions that impact Canadians’ ability to prepare for, cope with and recover from events such as floods and wildfires.
Top row L-R: Sharmalene Mendis-Millard, Director, P4A, Jason Thistlethwaite, Faculty Lead and Climate Institute member, Liton Chakraborty, Research Associate
Bottom row L-R: Research Assistants Felicia Watterodt, Geography and Environmental Management, Kasra Motlaghzadeh, Systems Design Engineering, Sina Jahangir, Civil and Environmental Engineering
“This is a key resource for those who want to understand who is made vulnerable to climate change and those who want to use equity-informed spatial analyses for flood risk reduction,” says Sharmalene Mendis-Millard, director of P4A and adjunct faculty in the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development. “Our reports include practical steps for assessing and mapping areas of high flood risk — accounting for social vulnerability — to inform policies and programs with those most impacted in mind.”
P4A has been a key force in flood resilience research and knowledge mobilization for nearly a decade. With this latest project, P4A broadened its focus to equity-driven risk communications and mapping — addressing resilience to floods, wildfires and earthquakes among Canada's most at-risk populations.
The project, conducted from 2020 to 2023, explored two key areas: public outreach and risk communications for marginalized groups, and mapping flood risk to understand how vulnerability is distributed within communities. These efforts can help determine policies and programs that effectively reduce risk and enhance resilience across all segments of society.
In 2022, P4A and Canadian Red Cross released the report Inclusive Resilience: Pathways to building awareness and preparedness among at-risk populations in Canada. This report, based on surveys, focus groups and interviews, provided valuable insights into how different demographics perceive and respond to emergency preparedness messaging. It highlighted the need for targeted communications strategies that resonate with women, Indigenous Peoples, newcomers to Canada, older adults and low-income households — groups that are often disproportionately affected by disasters.
The project's second phase, completed in 2023, resulted in the 2024 report Inclusive Resilience: A socio-economic vulnerability index to map flood risks for targeted communications and disaster risk reduction.
This report introduces a groundbreaking Social Vulnerability Index (SoVI), developed by P4A’s Climate Equity and Risk Analysis team. The SoVI uses Census data and web-based geographic information systems (GIS) to map socio-economic vulnerabilities within communities, offering a powerful tool for governments, community organizations and emergency practitioners.
The report’s findings emphasize the importance of integrating social vulnerability into flood risk assessments, which have traditionally focused on physical structures rather than the people affected.
By overlaying flood exposure data with a SoVI layer, the project offers web-based maps that pinpoint areas to concentrate risk reduction efforts. P4A’s work represents a significant advancement in integrating socio-economic considerations into disaster management and community planning. As climate change continues to intensify environmental hazards, projects like Inclusive Resilience are vital for reaching and protecting the most affected Canadians.
“We identified who may be most impacted by hazards made worse by climate change, with examples of the ‘why’ and ‘how’ people can be made vulnerable,” Mendis-Millard says. “Our report also includes practical steps for how to assess and map areas of high flood risk that accounts for social vulnerability to inform policies and programs with those most impacted in mind.”
The Inclusive Resilience project was made possible through partnerships with organizations such as FireSmart Canada, the BC Earthquake Alliance, and the Native Women’s Association of Canada. This collaborative approach underscores the importance of working together to build more resilient communities and ensure that preparedness measures are inclusive and equitable.
For more information and to access the reports, visit Partners for Action and Inclusive Resilience.