Introduction
The catastrophic Los Angeles fires of January 2025 lasted for 24 days, burned over  57,000 acres, destroyed more than 18,000 homes and structures, and killed at least 30 people. It was one of the most devastating disasters in the city’s history and the vivid
images will be forever ingrained in the minds of Angelenos. After the wildfires, Angelenos are now charged with the monumental task of recovering and rebuilding the physical structures and social and support networks.

Spring 2025 UCLA Site Planning Studio
Answering the call to “coexist with fire” (Moritz et al., 2020), a group of UCLA graduate students in the Master’s of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program undertook a quarter-long studio project to develop urban planning and design strategies for making the greater LA region more resilient to future wildfire events. The principal objective of the studio project was to explore
neighborhood-scale fire protection, prevention, and mitigation strategies for existing hillside communities exposed to high wildfire risk.  The class partnered with residents and community groups from Solano Canyon, a small hillside community in the City of LA located just north of downtown and Chinatown and neighboring Dodger Stadium.  Read more

UCLA Reports Title Fire Resilient LA: Solano Canyon
Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4cs33093
Authors Minjee Kim, Minjee Howland, Hannah Wall, Katie et al.
​Publication Date 2025-10-01
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Part 2: Lessons learned from the “community-hardening” efforts in Solano Canyon
With Minjee Kim and Sara Harris
This webinar shares lessons learned from working with a Los Angeles hillside community to strengthen resilience to wildfire risk. We will share what communities can do now to best protect themselves, how they can prepare for emergency evacuation given the community characteristics, and what are the challenges and obstacles that must be overcome to corral community members and secure political support for implementing strategies that can harden the community against fire events.
Date: February 5, 2026
Website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRXE_yuPx7M

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August 21, 2025
After January wildfires, Luskin students help one vulnerable community build resilience in Minjee Kim’s studio class, UCLA students partnered with Solano Canyon to design wildfire resilience strategies, sparking an ongoing project that positions the hillside community as a model for other neighborhoods.
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