Recent fires in California and the western United States have broken many previous records: number of fires, number of acres burned, number of structures destroyed, and persons displaced. The effects of climate change, including more frequent droughts and severe dry seasons, have combined to make forests and wildlands more vulnerable to fire. What’s more, millions of people are moving each year into the fire-prone areas known as the Wildland-Urban Interface. Continuing this pattern of development increasingly places lives and communities in danger.

As architects and urban designers, we see the threat of wildfires as intrinsically  connected with community planning, design, and policy decisions. We have an obligation to contribute our expertise and to put forward new ideas. The issue of wildfires must be addressed in a more comprehensive manner. We advocate for an approach that includes effective forest management techniques, urban design strategies, and criteria for building design—with the ultimate goal to achieve a more sustainable coexistence with wildfires.

With a focus on the challenges ahead for California, this document puts forward best-practice design guidelines for settlement patterns, urban design strategies, and architectural considerations that could strengthen resilience against wildfire. We offer specific guidelines for managing wildfire vulnerability through design and policy strategies at three scales: the region, the city, and the building. We analyze data on past disasters and assess how all stakeholders — governments, fire departments, cities, architects, and citizens — can adopt more effective strategies to mitigate and coexist with wildfires. This work is not comprehensive, but meant to advance and contribute to conversations that are already occurring across various fields of expertise.

The increasing severity of California’s wildfire season is not a problem just for firefighters, city planners, or citizens who live and build in high fire hazard zones. We must all communicate with each other, learn from each other’s expertise, and apply each other’s knowledge to face this escalating crisis.