Dr. Santina Contreras, an Assistant Professor at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, recently visited Gibbs College to present her talk, “Building Resilience through Community Practices: Exploring Community-led Efforts to Address Gaps in Relocation and Resettlement Programs” as part of the Regional + City Planning Kuhlman lecture series.
In her lecture, Dr. Contreras presented findings from her study in Puerto Rico to challenge how planners relocate and resettle populations when dealing with environmental hazards and development-related issues facing informal communities. Dr. Contreras takes an interdisciplinary approach towards understanding relationships between local communities and external stakeholders surrounding natural hazard events, environmental planning efforts, and international development projects.
Following the talk, Dr. Contreras also met informally with Gibbs students to talk about international planning issues.