Jeff Birchall, PhD, RPP, MCIP

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Science - Earth & Atmospheric Sciences Admin

Curriculum Vitæ

Contact Overview Activities Publications

Contact

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Science - Earth & Atmospheric Sciences Admin

Email: sjbircha@ualberta.ca
Phone: (780) 248-5758
Address: 3-115 Tory (H.M.) Building
11211 Saskatchewan Drive NW

Edmonton AB

T6G 2H4

Overview

Area of Study / Keywords

Local climate impacts climate adaptation resilience planning local governance

About

I am an Associate Professor in the School of Urban and Regional Planning, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. I have broad research and teaching experience in climate/ environmental change and planning, and specific expertise in local governance and sustainability. I have a range of academic and public sector experience, with an education that includes study in human geography (BA) and planning (BES), and advanced study in climate change (MES) and sustainability (PhD).

I am a registered professional planner through the Alberta Professional Planners Institute (RPP) and the Canadian Institute of Planners (MCIP).

I am the Director of the Climate Adaptation and Resilience Lab (CARL) and serve as Lead of the UArctic Thematic Network on Local-scale Planning, Climate Change and Resilience (https://www.uarctic.org/organization/thematic-networks/local-scale-planning-climate-change-and-resilience/)

Research

My research program, while grounded in community planning, is interdisciplinary in scope, and explores the broad theme of environmental resilience at the local scale.

My work on environmental resilience primarily examines local scale governance, and decision dynamics around motivational factors and extent of local planning for climate change risk reduction. Specifically, I am interested in localized environmental impacts (eg. weak shore-fast ice, permafrost thaw, erosion, flooding, wildfire) and how they affect critical infrastructure (eg. seawalls, roads, utilities, assets) and the built form (eg. land use, zoning), how this relates to planning decisions, and what this means for community well-being and safety. Research is largely driven by key actor and local stakeholder engagement, and includes site assessments and the examination of strategic planning documents. Ultimately, the aim of my research is the (co-) production of policy relevant knowledge/ outcomes, and translating theory into practice in a useful, locally informed way.

Scholarly Activities

Research - Coastal Community Climate Change Resilience - Arctic Coast

Started: 201805

Case studies include communities in Yukon (Haines Junction, Whitehorse, Dawson City), Alaska (Nome, Homer)

Research - Coastal Community Climate Change Resilience - Atlantic Coast

Started: 201705

Case studies include communities in New Brunswick (Fredericton), Nova Scotia (Cape Breton Regional Municipality, Halifax), PEI (Charlottetown)

Research - Coastal Community Climate Change Resilience - Pacific Coast

Started: 201606

Case studies include communities in British Columbia (Cities: Victoria, Surrey, North Vancouver, Nanaimo; Regional Districts: Comox Valley, Nanaimo, Alberi-Clayoquot, Cowichan Valley)

Research - International Thematic Network Lead - Local-scale Planning, Climate Change and Resilience

New international network on climate change led by UAlberta scientist

Featured Publications

Denial and discretion as a governance process: How actor perceptions of risk and responsibility hinder adaptation to climate change

Birchall, SJ, Kehler, S

Environmental Science and Policy. 2023 June; 10.1016/j.envsci.2023.05.017

Climate change adaptation: How short-term political priorities trample public well-being

Kehler, S., Birchall, SJ.

Environmental Science & Policy. 2023 May; 10.1016/j.envsci.2023.05.012

The influence of governance structure on local resilience: Enabling and constraining factors for climate change adaptation in practice

Birchall, SJ., Bonnett, N., Kehler, S.

Urban Climate. 2023 January; 10.1016/j.uclim.2022.101348

Growing resilient: The potential of urban agriculture for increasing food security and improving earthquake recovery

Slater, T., Birchall, SJ.

Cities. 2022 September; 10.1016/j.cities.2022.103930

Fostering resilience and adapting to climate change the Canadian North: Implications for infrastructure in the proposed Canadian Northern Corridor

S Jeff Birchall; Sarah Kehler, Nicole Bonnett

School of Public Policy Publications (University of Calgary). 2022 June; (Canadian Northern Corridor Special Series) 10.11575/sppp.v15i1.74463

Arctic and northern community governance: The need for local planning and design as resilience strategy

Kristof van Assche, S. Jeff Birchall, Monica Gruezmacher

Land Use Policy. 2022 February; 10.1016/j.landusepol.2022.106062

The influence of regional strategic policy on municipal climate adaptation planning

Bonnett, N., Birchall, SJ.

Regional Studies. 2022 February; 10.1080/00343404.2022.2049224

An assessment of systems, agents, and institutions in building community resilience to climate change: A case study of Charlottetown, Canada

Birchall, SJ., MacDonald, S., Baran, N.

Urban Climate. 2022 January; 10.1016/j.uclim.2021.101062

Social vulnerability and climate change adaptation: The critical importance of moving beyond technocratic policy approaches

Kehler, S. Birchall, SJ.

Environmental Science & Policy. 2021 August; 10.1016/j.envsci.2021.07.025

Challenges to climate change adaptation in coastal small towns: Examples from Ghana, Uruguay, Finland, Denmark, and Alaska

Fitton, J., Addo, K.A, Jayson-Quashigah, P-N., Nagy, G., Gutierrez, O., Panario, D., Carro, I., Seijo, L., Segura, C., Verocai, J.E., Luoma, S., Klien, J., Zhang, T-T, Birchall, SJ., Stempel, P.

Ocean and Coastal Management. 2021 June;