Appendix Item [1]

The questions as were assigned to the tri-part research phases are listed below.

Research Phase: #1

Part I

• Do ecological systems exhibit resilience to natural hazards?

  o Which are the case studies of note and why?

  o What are the principle findings thereof?

  o Are patterns, categories, and themes evident within the studies?

• Which are the foremost compelling theories in relation thereto?

  o Who are the authors and works of note and why?

  o How do their works relate to one another?

  o What are primary insights to be gained therefrom?

• What are the possible natural hazard trajectories?

o How do studies suggest climate will impact upon the issue?

o What effects might land-use change [inc. loss and development] have?

o What bearing has biodiversity extinction, species, and dispersal?

Triangulation: Viewed through the lens of systems thinking, what insights and knowledge gaps have the above enquiries collectively illuminated?

Part II

• Distinguish the differentials between ecological and urban resilience systems.

  o What are the organisational variances thereof?

  o Materially, how does that manifest, and why?

  o How do the processes of the former compare to the latter?

• Could the processes of ecological systems be applied to the urban environment?

o What are the theoretical potentialities?

o What are the practical potentialities?

o Metaphor and/or model and/or medium?

• Which schools of architectural and urban design thought align with the findings?

o Who are the foremost relevant theorists and practitioners?

o Which of their works are most pertinent and why?

o How might my research build upon their legacies?

Triangulation: Whereupon the insights attained from the above enquiries are analysed and synthesised, what provisional paradigmatic parameters do they suggest, and how might the processes, principles, and phenomenon integral thereto be modelled?

Research Phase: #2

Part I

• Which natural hazard category presents the most compelling potentialities?

  o Ecologically, are there imperative issues in need of address?

  o Socially, are there imperative issues in need of address?

  o Architecturally, are there imperative issues in need of address?

• Are the ecological, social, and architectural issues connected, and if so how?

  o What are the impacts of one to the other/s?

  o Might the dynamic thereof change, and if so why, and in what timeframe?

  o Are there alternatives? If so, what?

• How might emerging technologies influence future socio-ecological systems?

  o Which biotechnologies are relevant and why?

  o Which biodesign/biomimetic projects are relevant and why?

  o Which information communications technologies are relevant and why?

  Triangulation: Given the findings of the above enquiries, which natural hazard will form the forward foci of the research, and which methods will be applied thereto?

Part II

• Identify the spatiotemporal features of wildland fire.

o Biochemically, what are the defining qualities of wildland fire?

o Behaviourally, how does wildland fire interact with its environment?

o Temporally, does wildland fire’s biochemistry/behaviour change?

• What are the most compelling case studies in wildland fire behaviour?

  o Which fire-resilient flora and fauna should be the foci?

  o Which fire-regimes [biomes] should be the foci?

  o Which geographic regions should be the foci?

• What are the most compelling Wildland Urban Interface fire case studies?

  o Which events illustrate the spatiotemporal scale of the phenomenon?

  o Which events illustrate the losses incurred from the phenomenon*?

  o Which events illustrate the WUI’s relationship with the phenomenon?

*Losses including human life, property, and financial.

Triangulation: How do the findings from the above enquiries suggest that the processes, principles, and phenomenon as inform a new paradigm in WUI resilience to wildland fire need be refined and/or enhanced?

Research Phase: #3

Part I

• What is humanity’s relationship with fire, and does it change over time?

  o Historically, how has humanity viewed fire, and why?

  o How does humanity view fire now, and why?

  o How may humanity view fire in the future?

• How do humanity’s perceptions of fire impact upon WUI fire policy?

  o How has fire policy changed over time, and why?

  o How does science suggest WUI fire policy need change, and why?

  o What might changes to WUI fire policy manifest?

• How does WUI fire policy and perceptions of fire impact upon WUI fire codes?

  o What is the historical precedent in the case study region?

  o What alternatives might exist, i.e. new WUI fire codes?

  o What might new WUI fire codes manifest architecturally/ecologically?

Triangulation: What changes to WUI fire codes do the findings from all the above enquiries suggest need be made to reconcile the needs of ecological and social systems?

Part II

• Systemically, what is the new WUI fire resilience paradigm?

  o What processes are integral to the paradigm, and why?

  o What principles are integral to the paradigm, and why?

  o What, phenomenally, is integral to the paradigm, and why?

• Philosophically, what are the precepts of the new WUI fire resilience paradigm?

  o How does the paradigm vary from its philosophical predecessors?

  o How does the paradigm compare to contemporaneous schools of thought?

  o What challenges/opportunities does that present?

• Speculatively, how may the new WUI fire resilience paradigm be explored?

  o Which speculative methods ought be utilised, and why?

  o What spatiotemporal timescale ought they explore?

  o Where might speculative works be published?

Continue to Appendix Item #2 here.

The thesis is also available in PDF format, downloadable in several parts on Academia and Researchgate.

Note that figures have been removed from the digital version hosted on this site, but are included in the PDFs available at the links above.

Citation: Sterry, M. L., (2018) Panarchistic Architecture: Building Wildland-Urban Interface Resilience to Wildfire through Design Thinking, Practice and Building Codes Modelled on Ecological Systems Theory. PhD Thesis, Advanced Virtual and Technological Architecture Research [AVATAR] group, University of Greenwich, London.