Kian Goh article in The Nation argues to keep cities safe from wildfires, we need to ‘seriously question’ home ownership
December 23, 2019UCLA Professor Kian Goh penned a column in The Nation connecting California’s devastating fire seasons and the 20th Century ideologies of economic development and homeownership that have dictated urban development in the state. Goh writes that the ways in which we plan and develop our cities makes fires even more destructive and even interferes with addressing climate change.
She argues that it is crucial for us to change our perceptions of property ownership to adapt to new climate-attuned modes of urban living, such as rental housing, government-planned and –built housing, and co-op apartments. “Our ideas about what success, comfort, home, and family should look like are so ingrained, it’s hard for us to see how they could be reinforcing the very conditions that put us at such grave risk,” Goh writes.
Read more at The Nation.