Hazard zone conflicts in the avalanche capital: Stress points for avalanche and landslide mitigation in Juneau, Alaska

Abstract

Scientific research on mountain hazards has rapidly expanded knowledge of how and when snow avalanches and landslides can occur. Yet mass wasting events continue to produce deadly disasters and expose millions to extreme risk. Governments and scientists have responded by commissioning studies, creating hazard maps, and managing hazard zones to protect people, property, and infrastructure. Property owners, however, frequently contest and challenge avalanche and landslide hazard zones, indicating a continued need to analyze and understand the social dynamics and political struggles embedded in hazard mitigation. Expanding the limited social science research on mountain hazards, this paper examines hazard zone conflicts during a time when an increasing number of people around the world are at risk in the mountains. The goal of this empirical case study from Juneau, Alaska is to show how various societal forces (political, legal, and economic) shape risk and vulnerability at three crucial stages of hazard management: (1) hazard mapping, (2) zoning regulations, and (3) disaster prevention engineering projects. This research demonstrates how hazard mitigation involves a host of intertwined socio-political processes and actors—from experts producing studies and delineating risk zones to city officials and hazard zone property owners redefining those maps, zones, and projects. The paper therefore recommends that scientists and decisionmakers proactively integrate research on local social dynamics into their risk studies to better understand how people might influence the trajectory of hazard management.