05/29/2026
What if we designed with fire instead of against it?
In Design by Fire, Emily Schlickman and Brett Milligan present a collection of speculative design projects and global case studies that explore how communities can live with wildfire as an ecological force.
Framed within what scholar Stephen Pyne calls the “Pyrocene”—the age of fire—the work challenges conventional thinking by reframing wildfire as both a threat and a dynamic, shaping presence in our landscapes.
Central to the installation is Design by Fire: Resistance, Co-creation, and Retreat in the Pyrocene, a publication examining 27 international examples of how communities, designers, and land stewards are responding to increasing wildfire risk through adaptation, collaboration, and reimagined relationships with land.
Schlickman, an Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Design at UC Davis, and Milligan, a futurist and landscape architect, bring together design, research, and practice to rethink how we inhabit fire-prone environments.
Together, the work offers a compelling vision for living with fire in a rapidly changing world.
See it in Forest Hope: Through Innovation, on view at the Discovery Museum through August 2. Included with museum admission. Discovery Museum open Tuesday - Sunday, 10 am - 4 pm.
Exhibit supported by and
