Risa Palm
Personal Information
Description
Risa Palm is an urban geographer and former Senior Vice President and Provost at Georgia State University. Her research interests are in urban geography and she has done extensive work on the topics of natural hazards responsiveness, urban housing, and urban impacts of global climate change. She has previously held tenured positions at the rank of professor in departments of geography at the University of Colorado, the University of Oregon, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Louisiana State University and SUNY Buffalo. Dr. Palm has published numerous books, monographs, and journal articles, and received research honors from the Association of American Geographers. She was President of the Association of American Geographers and has also served on the board of the American Geographical Society. She has served on several panels and committees for the National Science Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences.-faculty profile
Books
Illusions of safety
Illusions of Safety surveys the cultural influences on responses to earthquake risk in both the United States and Japan. The attitudes of Japanese and Californian respondents are compared and analyzed for their shaping of individual responses to earthquakes. Survey responses and the authors' firsthand experience of the reactions to the Kobe, Japan, earthquake in 1995 and the Northridge, California, earthquake are presented and show that the Japanese generally prefer a communal approach to earthquake response whereas Americans (more specifically Californians) place more emphasis on household self-sufficiency. The authors examine how these reactions influence public policy for earthquake preparedness and response in each country.