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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 2h

I’m delighted to be on the program for the Urban History Association’s first ever conference in Los Angeles! My panel, “Summer in the City: Urban Heat in the Past, Present, and Future,” will be on Saturday. The program listing and abstract are below.

#UHA #urbanhist #envirohist

View of downtown skyline of Los Angeles, with snowy San Gabriel mountains in the distance. Cover of the Urban History Association’s program for their 11th biennial conference in Los Angeles this October 9-12.

Session 80 • Sat. 8:00-9:30 am

Summer in the City: Urban Heat in the Past, Present, and Future

Chair & Commentator:
Mars Plater University of Connecticut

Lawrence Culver Utah State University
Hidden Histories of Heat in LA's Land of Sunshine

Alison Rose Jefferson
Independent Historian and Heritage Conservation Consultant Black California Dreamin': Claiming Space at
America's Leisure Frontier

Elsa Devienne Northumbria University
History Tells Us LA's Beaches are Man-Made.
But How Long until They're Gone Forever?

Kara Schlichting Queens College, CUNY
Rethinking New York City's "Long Hot
Summers"

How can the history of heat inform our understanding of planning, parks, policing, incarceration, inequality, public recreation, and public health in cities?

This panel session considers how city people have survived sweaty summers in the past, and how authorities have reacted to civilians searching for relief from the heat.

Los Angeles-a city born in no small part through promotion of climate for recreation and health-is an apt place to ask these questions about the past while confronting a present and future threatened by climate catastrophe. Angelenos are grappling with devastating fires, sweltering heat, and other consequences of a changing and more chaotic climate.

Our panelists will look at examples from this and other cities to consider how the history of urban heat might inform planning for climate change's impacts.

Alison Rose Jefferson considers how climate and heat played a role in the histories of recreational and resort destinations for African American Southern Californians.

Lawrence Culver examines histories of heat concealed within LA's supposed climate paradise.

Elsa Devienne explores how the beaches of LA-climate refuges on hot days-are threatened by climate change and rising seas.

Across the continent, New York City's history is also shaped by urban heat. Mars Plater demonstrates that late nineteenth century New Yorkers were so eager to beat the heat that steamboat excursionists rioted rather than returning to the sweltering city.

Kara Schlichting illuminates how the urban heat island effect led to conflict, political concern, and police brutality in predominantly Black NYC neighborhoods in the summers of 1967 and 1968.

Together, these panelists and this session will examine heat as a historical issue in cities, and its importance for understanding our urban climatic past and future.

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 23h

Genevieve Carpio’s work is a great example of how insurance data can be an illuminating means to understand the past, from urban planning to historical discrimination, and all the different ways insurers assess and imagine “risk.”

Urban History Association (the official account) @urbanhistorya.bsky.social · 1d

The road has long been tumultuous for Latinos in places like California, as a site where the private space of the automobile and the public space of the street meet. @drgenacarpio.bsky.social on CA car insurance and the cultural history of race, redlining, and risk assessment.

California’s Invisible Infrastructure: What Auto Insurance Tells Us about Race, Risk, and Responsibility

By Genevieve Carpio Being a historian often means living with the contradictions of the present. As an Angeleno, I see my city in pain. There is resilience and courage too, but the suffering caused…

themetropole.blog

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 1d

Politicians can erase data and defund research, but we are still careening towards a climate disaster-triggered economic, insurance, and housing crisis nevertheless.

Climate Risk Economics @climateeconomics.bsky.social · 1d

From Realtor's 2025 Housing and Climate Risk Report:

US homes at "severe or extreme" #climaterisk:

Flood: 6% of homes ($3.4 tr in value, inc. $1 tr outside FEMA flood zones so mostly uninsured)

Wind: 18% of homes ($8 tr)

Wildfire: 5.6% ($3 tr)

www.realtor.com/research/cli...

2025 Realtor.com Housing and Climate Risk Report

Understanding climate risk in the housing market is essential, as these challenges not only affect residential safety but also influence property values, insurance costs, and overall market stability....

www.realtor.com

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 1d

Lack of progress—particularly the inability to develop clear policies and protocol—points to what some experts describe as a larger failure to learn from major fire disasters. “We have to work really hard to continue ignoring the patterns here.”

www.latimes.com/california/s...

Fire after fire, L.A. County keeps promising to fix failures but doesn't deliver

The seeming lack of progress after the Woolsey fire — particularly in developing clear policies and protocol — indicates a failure to learn from such disasters.

www.latimes.com

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 1d

The volume, which includes contributions by a variety of great scholars, offers diverse perspectives and approaches to disaster history in the US, and I’m pleased to be included.

If you aren’t affiliated with an institution that has library access, I’d be happy to share a PDF of my chapter. (3/3)

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 1d

My chapter, "Disaster Made Manifest: The Federal Role in US Natural Disasters," examines the dubious federal role in disasters, from wishful thinking about climate, to the emergence of modern fire policy, federal weather forecasting, reclamation, and more. (2/3)

link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...

Disaster Made Manifest: The Federal Role in US Natural Disasters

Natural catastrophes occur worldwide, yet the United States suffers a striking number and variety of natural disasters. These environmental phenomena intersect with human society, human environments, and human choices. In the United States, a society and political...

link.springer.com

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 1d

Delighted to be included in this new book, Natural Disasters in the United States: Making Sense of Risks and Vulnerability. It began as a conference at the Center for American Studies at the University of Heidelberg, and I'm happy it’s now in print. (1/3)

link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

Natural Disasters in the United States

This volume covers a wide array of historical failures in the USA that hindered improvements in resilience against natural hazards.

link.springer.com

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 2d

Sierra glaciers dwindle, changing environments, threatening water supplies, and erasing cultural history:

“Ultimately, it’s telling us that we’ve left the bounds of so-called normal. We’re crossing the line in the sand from what glaciers have done, for basically all of human recorded history.”

Ian James @ianjames.bsky.social · 6d

"When these glaciers die off, we will be the first humans to see ice-free peaks in Yosemite." www.latimes.com/environment/...

As California glaciers disappear, people will see ice-free peaks exposed for the first time in millennia

The glaciers of California's Sierra Nevada are disappearing as temperatures rise. Scientists recently found that the glaciers probably have never before melted in human history.

www.latimes.com

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 2d

“Climate change is creating more opportunities for a catastrophic fire.”

These “were largely clustered in the western part of North America, southern Europe and southern Australia, and mostly in affluent areas with high property values”—but the tropics & Arctic too.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/c...

Costly and Deadly Wildfires Really Are on the Rise, New Research Finds

www.nytimes.com

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 2d

What’s the value of the only national forest in Ohio, its large outdoor rec visitation, its threatened hellbender salamanders, and it preventing erosion, flooding, and mass release of toxic mining waste next to some timber company making a little money once?

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Ohio’s sole national forest could be wiped out as Trump targets land for logging

Over 80% of Wayne national forest classified as suitable for logging, drawing concern from locals

www.theguardian.com

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 3d

I’ve posted about this great archival collection before for historians or anyone interested in the history of outdoor recreation and gear, but that was before I discovered this video short for their winter sports materials. The 80s vibes are immaculate! 😂

youtube.com/shorts/DK8gq...

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 3d

Coerced into Spanish missions, decimated by disease, their territorial claims ignored and their ancestral land transformed into US real estate, the Amah Mutsun survived, and now will see a small piece of their lands returned. This is an immense step for Native groups never granted reservation lands.

Dustin Mulvaney @dustinmulvaney.bsky.social · 4d

The Amah Mutsun are getting #LandBack within their ancestral territory of Juristac, in the Pajaro watershed, for the first time since dispossessed by mission San Juan Bautista.
baynature.org/2025/09/20/t...

A Land Back Success for the Amah Mutsun Within Its Historical Territory - Bay Nature

The tribe has been without a land base for more than 200 years.

baynature.org

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 4d

This follows big increases by private insurers in California, and portends even bigger rate hikes, insurers exiting markets, and public insurance plans failing as climate-related disasters accelerate across the US.

Los Angeles Times @latimes.com · 4d

California's home insurer of last resort seeks 36% rate hike following January fires

The California FAIR Plan Association, which covers homeowners denied insurance, is seeking a 35.8% rate increase, though some policyholders could pay more or less depending on fire risk.

www.latimes.com

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 4d

2025 seems like a good time to be reminded that the only thing crazier is the nation that birthed it.

Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 4d

Drive dark roads!
Bad Coop’s death & resurrection!
The Nine Inch Nails!
Fly into the first atomic bomb explosion and see the birth of new evil!
Fly to the White Lodge! Watch a 50s zombie horror with a blackface Abraham Lincoln asking for a light, crushing skulls, & speaking poetry!
Annnd Frogbug!

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 4d

I felt like that was Lynch’s retort to all the TV shows that have tried to emulate Twin Peaks, badly or well.

Lynch rolls in with Pt 8 and says, “That’s real cute, kids. Lemme show you how it’s done.”

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Reposted by Lawrence Culver

Ian James @ianjames.bsky.social · 5d

The flow of the Colorado River has shrunk about 20%, and its depleted reservoirs continue to decline. But talks aimed at addressing the shortage are at an impasse, and environmental groups say the lack of information about the closed-door negotiations is a problem. www.latimes.com/environment/...

Millions rely on dwindling Colorado River — but are kept ‘in the dark’ about fixes, critics say

Negotiations aimed at solving the Colorado River's water shortage are at an impasse. Environmentalists are criticizing a lack of public information about the closed-door talks.

www.latimes.com

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 5d

For so long a portent of American urbanism and suburbanization, SoCal may now be a portent of something very different for the future of the US Sunbelt.

Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 5d

For 150 years, Southern California real estate has been one of the most reliable investments in US history.

Fires and fears of future climate disasters may be changing that.

Susan Crawford @scrawford.bsky.social · 6d

Climate risk hammering LA’s housing market: insurance is harder to get and more expensive, homes stuck on the market, price cuts happening. Insurers and the state’s FAIR Plan reel. Market repricing is underway. Investors and the Fed still looking the other way. open.substack.com/pub/susanpcr...

What’s a house in LA really worth?

Southern California houses are sitting on the market. Part of the reason is physical climate change.

open.substack.com

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 6d

In the face of expected sea level rise and storm surges, experts talk about ordered retreat, or fortification.

This . . . is not that.

Without planning, all that will be left is seawalls protecting the rich, and polluted debris strewn on ragged coasts instead of beaches for everyone else.

The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 6d

Six more houses in the Outer Banks have collapsed as Hurricanes Humberto and Imelda rumbled in the Atlantic.

All were unoccupied. https://wapo.st/42iGmFE

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 6d

So it’s “National Pumpkin Spice Day”? 🎃

Scratch the surface of a spice, or really any commodity, and just wait for the imperialism, murder, and global capitalism to appear! This particular story also features the Dutch East India Company, and Manhattan!

www.atlasobscura.com/articles/isl...

The Hidden History of the Nutmeg Island That Was Traded for Manhattan

Dutch colonists committed genocide to secure a spice monopoly. But there's more to the story.

www.atlasobscura.com

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 6d

It hoovered up what people who knew him had written while mourning him, and even created a fake picture of him, all to make a quick buck on Amazon.

I only knew Horton through his writing, but god I wish he was still with us to loudly and profanely read this for the filth it is.

404 Media @404media.co · 6d

AI-Generated Biography on Amazon Tries to Capitalize on the Death of a Beloved Writer Kaleb Horton

🔗 www.404media.co/ai-generated...

AI-Generated Biography on Amazon Tries to Capitalize on the Death of a Beloved Writer Kaleb Horton

‘I cannot overstate how disgusting I find this kind of AIdog shit in the first place, never mind under these circumstances.’

www.404media.co

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 7d

“It’s important for people to understand how important those trees are to the livability of anybody who remains in Altadena . . . our temperatures are easily up 5 degrees because there’s so much reflected heat from hard surfaces and no trees to buffer it.”

www.latimes.com/california/s...

As tree removals continue in Altadena, residents raise concerns over future

Local arborists believe that Altadena has already lost at least 50% of its pre-Eaton fire tree canopy and fear for further loss.

www.latimes.com

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 7d

This is a systematic and sobering analysis of rebuilding in the wake of California fires that destroyed 22,500 homes in just 3 years, with only 38% rebuilt, residents displaced, and California housing made even more scarce—all before the LA fires of 2025.

Liam Dillon @liamjdillon.com · 8d

We're living in the worst era of wildfire in California history. My colleagues and I found that an astounding 22,500 homes burned down in the five most destructive fires in the state from 2017 through 2020. Just 38% of them have been rebuilt. www.latimes.com/homeless-hou...

22,500 homes lost. Over five years later, only 38% rebuilt: What California fire survivors face

Just 38% of the 22,500 homes burned down in California's five most destructive wildfires from 2017 to 2020 have been rebuilt, The Times found.

www.latimes.com

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 7d

Great reporting from Liam Dillon in the LA Times about how radically fire has transformed California communities, not just in the immediate aftermath, but in the longer term, as the difficult realities of rebuilding reshape communities.

Liam Dillon @liamjdillon.com · 8d

Younger, richer and smaller: How California’s era of wildfire has changed communities forever

www.latimes.com/homeless-hou...

Younger, richer and smaller: How California’s era of wildfire has changed communities forever

Recent large wildfires in California have changed communities forever in ways difficult to predict. Rebuilding statistics tell only part of the story.

www.latimes.com

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