Housewarming: From Story to Strategy — Co-Creating Policy for a Climate-Changed Future

Fire and water. Disasters intensified by climate change are forcing us to confront a fundamental question: What is home? Is it a house, a neighborhood, a sense of belonging, or the ability to remain rooted in community? As disasters displace millions, they expose the inequities that determine who can rebuild, who is forced to move, and who gets to shape what comes next.

This session invites participants into an interactive experience centered on two firsthand narratives: one community transformed by fire, another by water. Together, these stories reveal how climate disasters reshape communities—and what it takes to recover within systems that too often prioritize extraction, reinforce isolation, and leave decision-makers working in silos. 

Participants will then step into a "collaboratory" where storytelling, worldbuilding, and policy design intersect. Through interactive activities, they will explore how housing, land, infrastructure, and community identity shape every phase of disaster response and recovery, then co-create interventions that strengthen belonging, resilience, and community in a climate-changed future. 

Bringing together frontline leaders, practitioners, policymakers, artists, and advocates, this session demonstrates how creative collaboration can bridge divides and spark new approaches to recovery. Participants will build relationships across sectors, challenge traditional policymaking, and reimagine disaster recovery not as restoring what was lost, but as creating a more just, connected future where everyone has a place to call home.