As Los Angeles recovers from its devastating wildfires, environmental engineers, urban planners and natural disaster experts are casting forward with visions of what could come next for neighborhoods that have been reduced to ash and rubble.

For more than a century, conservation policy has focused on economic development and wisely using natural resources.

The Hughes Fire has now burned 8,096 acres in Los Angeles and Ventura counties since igniting late Wednesday morning near Castaic Lake, according to Cal Fire. As more than 400 firefighters responded to the scene, an air tanker and four helicopters attacked the blaze from the air, preventing it from jumping Interstate 5, officials said.

The number of deaths from the wildfires that destroyed entire communities in the Los Angeles area in January 2025 has risen to 29, the county medical examiner’s office said.