How did California come to build where it did, and what should we do now that so many communities face greatly increased wildfire risk? Join us to hear from panelists spanning law, urban planning, land use, post-fire rebuilding, and community resilience as they examine these questions from the federal level to the neighborhood.
- Thursday, November 12, 2026
- 2:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
The panel will be will be moderated by Terry Watt, Owner of Terrell Watt Planning Consultants. Moderator Terry Watt brings deep expertise in planning and implementation efforts, focused on regionally-significant projects that promote resource conservation and sustainable development patterns.
Panelists:
- Emily Schlickman, Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Design at UC Davis
- Eric Biber, Edward C. Halbach Jr. Professor of Law at UC Berkeley
- Minjee Kim, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs
- Stephanie Pincetl, Professor with the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability
The webinar will center on questions of land use, how California has been built in the past, decision-making around rebuilding, and how to increase resilience in existing communities that now face significantly greater wildfire risk.
The panel will address these critical questions at different scales, drawing on the panelists' work and expertise in areas ranging from land use law and California history to rebuilding after recent urban conflagrations and neighborhood-level resilience efforts.
This is the third and final webinar in a series the UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge (SLAGC) organized to bring academic, agency, and industry experts together to address questions about how we can develop policies that help us live with future fire. Find summaries and video from the first two webinars here: Zone 0 and Vegetation Clearance, and Deciding Where to Implement Fire Mitigation Strategies.