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The Affluence–Vulnerability Interface: Intersecting scales of risk, privilege and disaster

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  • Christine Eriksen
  • Gregory Simon

Abstract

This paper examines vulnerability in the context of affluence and privilege. It focuses on the 1991 Oakland Hills Firestorm in California, USA to examine long-term lived experiences of the disaster. Vulnerability is typically understood as a condition besetting poor and marginalized communities. Frequently ignored in these discussions are the experiences of those who live in more affluent areas. This paper seeks to more closely explain vulnerability at its interface with affluence. The aim is to challenge uncritical explanations of vulnerability. We also offer alternative ways of conceptualizing vulnerability as a material condition and social construct that acknowledges broader cultural, ecological, and economic conditions, which may offset, maintain or deepen true risk exposure. Drawing on in-depth interviews with residents and emergency service managers, the paper presents a suite of vulnerability categories that intersect to create two concomitant and competing conditions. First, vulnerability is variegated between households within communities, including those in more affluent areas. Second, household vulnerability is collectively altered, and oftentimes reduced, by the broader affluent community within which individual households reside. By paying closer attention to the Affluence–Vulnerability Interface the paper reveals a recursive process, which is significant in the context of building more disaster resilient communities.

Suggested Citation

  • Christine Eriksen & Gregory Simon, 2017. "The Affluence–Vulnerability Interface: Intersecting scales of risk, privilege and disaster," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 49(2), pages 293-313, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:49:y:2017:i:2:p:293-313
    DOI: 10.1177/0308518X16669511
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Max A. Moritz & Enric Batllori & Ross A. Bradstock & A. Malcolm Gill & John Handmer & Paul F. Hessburg & Justin Leonard & Sarah McCaffrey & Dennis C. Odion & Tania Schoennagel & Alexandra D. Syphard, 2014. "Learning to coexist with wildfire," Nature, Nature, vol. 515(7525), pages 58-66, November.
    2. Gregory L. Simon, 2014. "Vulnerability-in-Production: A Spatial History of Nature, Affluence, and Fire in Oakland, California," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 104(6), pages 1199-1221, November.
    3. Karen O'Brien & Siri Eriksen & Lynn P. Nygaard & Ane Schjolden, 2007. "Why different interpretations of vulnerability matter in climate change discourses," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(1), pages 73-88, January.
    4. Susan L. Cutter & Bryan J. Boruff & W. Lynn Shirley, 2003. "Social Vulnerability to Environmental Hazards," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 84(2), pages 242-261, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Rahman, Muhammad Habibur, 2018. "Earthquakes don’t kill, built environment does: Evidence from cross-country data," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 458-468.
    2. Andrea K. Gerlak & Christina Greene, 2019. "Interrogating vulnerability in the Global Framework for Climate Services," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 157(1), pages 99-114, November.

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