Applied Anthropology MAA Portfolio

Cultural and Social Influences on Decision-Making: Climate Change Resilience for DoD Infrastructure

A multi-disciplinary approach to solving a wicked problem

The Problem...

Climate change has impacted many people around the world. Stakeholders who are responsible for critical infrastructure have been affected by this problem. The current infrastructure in place was not built to withstand these intense weather scenarios, and making decisions for resilient infrastructure comes with many barriers.

The Approach

A collaborative approach with team members and stakeholders, empathizing and understanding needs and perceptions to help aid in potential solutions.
A set of interview questions were formulated with careful considerations of what may be insightful to know to answer the project question: How do stakeholders make decisions under risk and uncertainty in regards to climate change and how it impacts infrastructure?

Project Proposal

Methods

The methods used in this project align closely with UXR methods:

Open-ended Interviews
Observations
Participant Observation

Before conducting this research and utilizing these methods, serious ethical considerations were taken. In line with IBR guidelines, interviews were conducting and the research process began.

The Journey

I traveled to Detroit Michigan to conduct interviews and participant observations. 13 interviews were conducted with various departments at the Detroit Arsenal and organizations in the surrounding community. I had an interview guide that I followed, but I let the participants talk about anything else they thought was important to include.

Not only were interviews conducted. As I was navigating through this new area, I observed several key insights about the culture, social, and ecological context. I also was able to place myself in the middle of stakeholders’ everyday life where I experience what they do on a daily basis.