Decision Framework for the Evaluation of Wildfire Resilience and Sustainability in Single-Family Housing of British Columbia Interior (WiSE-BC)

The increase of wildfire severity and ongoing housing crisis in the interior of British Columbia, Canada, have influenced the local residential development industry. In this region, there is a need for wildfire-resistant single-family housing with improved operational sustainability. This paper proposes a multi-criteria decision-making framework to facilitate the widespread adoption of wildfire-resilient and sustainable housing in the British Columbia Interior (WiSE-BC). The WiSE-BC systematically analyzes the opinions of local experts in sustainability, wildfire, risk, and construction to balance the trade-offs during early design stages using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). This analytical framework specifically concerns and is applied to BC interior environmental conditions and quality needs, as a design tool for reducing operational emissions of single-family homes using market-ready building components. The WiSE-BC framework was then applied to a case study design developed by a multidisciplinary student team as part of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2024 Design Challenge. Testing using the case study design shows that the WiSE-BC Framework could substantially improve early design efficiencies to simplify the selection of building components while meeting wildfire-resistance and sustainability objectives. To the best of the authors knowledge, the WiSE-BC is the first framework in Canada to balance design tradeoffs in the development of wildfire-resistant and sustainable single-family residential buildings. With wider market adoption and potential adaptation to other climate regions, the WiSE-BC will significantly streamline and improve the design process of high-performance single-family homes, saving time and design costs across Canada.