Community Innovation and Disasters

Abstract

Much is made of the American spirit of innovation, yet innovation is certainly not a process isolated to the United States nor is it always embraced in American communities. How do we come to understand community innovation, particularly as it concerns practices related to disaster mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery? Indeed, innovation is a much-studied subject with a vast corpus of research literature that is, unfortunately, conflicted and contradictory. Community, too, is a troubled and often imprecise term, its colloquial meaning often at odds with the complex and sometimes antagonistic social relationships existing in a place. Yet much of disaster research and practice is grounded in at least an implicit recognition of the importance of both community and of innovation.