Florida State University Assistant Professor Juyeong Choi, Ph.D. of FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, doctoral students Hiba Jalloul and Navid Nickdoost, and Planner-in-Residence Dennis Smith, AICP of Urban and Regional Planning, co-authored, “Identification and Prioritization of Multidimensional Resilience Factors for Incorporation in Coastal State Transportation Infrastructure Planning,” published in Natural Hazards. This research journal publishes original work on all aspects of natural hazards. Below is a summary of the article written by graduate student Emma Knight (MSP 23’, MBA 24’).
Florida State University Assistant Professor Juyeong Choi, Ph.D. of FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, doctoral students Hiba Jalloul and Navid Nickdoost, and Planner-in-Residence Dennis Smith, AICP of Urban and Regional Planning, co-authored, “Identification and Prioritization of Multidimensional Resilience Factors for Incorporation in Coastal State Transportation Infrastructure Planning,” published in Natural Hazards. This research journal publishes original work on all aspects of natural hazards.
This article represents a collaboration on interdisciplinary initiatives between the Department of Urban and Regional Planning’s Mark & Marianne Barnebey Lab and the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering’s Resilient Infrastructure & Disaster Response Center (RIDER) and the Sustainable Infrastructure Management (SIM) Laboratory to support government clients.
In “Identification and Prioritization of Multidimensional Resilience Factors for Incorporation in Coastal State Transportation Infrastructure Planning,” the authors argue that effective integration of resilience in transportation planning requires the identification and prioritization of multifaceted resilience factors.
Overall, the age of infrastructure, emergency response, and network exposure were identified as the top technical, socioeconomic, and environmental factors, respectively. This study also presents five key recommendations, informed by insights from a workshop involving transportation practitioners throughout Florida, to overcome current barriers to incorporating resilience in transportation planning.
These recommendations cover the topics of proper communication, funding availability and public engagement, plans alignment, data collection processes, and the development of comprehensive resilience assessment frameworks.
“This study contributes to the body of knowledge and state of practice by providing valuable insights and actionable strategies to facilitate the practical integration of resilience considerations in transportation planning, ultimately assisting in the overall resilience enhancement of transportation systems,” Dennis Smith said.
Transportation resilience is a multifaceted phenomenon, where several technical, socioeconomic, and environmental factors contribute to system resilience. A resilient transportation system should be able to withstand disruptive events and remain functional, continuously facilitate the movement of people and goods in a safe and efficient manner and have a reduced exposure to natural hazards.
Effective planning for transportation resilience requires an integrated consideration of all aspects of resilience. Disregarding any aspect of system resilience would result in deficient resilience plans and programs, which may jeopardize the long-term resilience of transportation assets.
Several elements are needed to facilitate the practical integration of the concept of resilience in transportation planning. Factors informing the different aspects of transportation resilience need to be identified to enable their incorporation in state transportation plans for resilience. These factors should be quantifiable to enable monitoring the current level of resilience of the transportation infrastructure while defining future resilience goals.
However, considering the limitation of available resources for data collection and management, it is impractical for transportation agencies to track and monitor numerous resilience factors across multiple resilience aspects. As such, further prioritization of resilience factors is critical for guiding the allocation of transportation agencies’ resources and investments.
Dennis Smith noted that “incorporating resilience in state transportation planning is critical to reduce the impact of future hazards on the transportation infrastructure.” “While this study prioritizes resilience factors based on insights from transportation experts in the state of Florida, the findings could be used by transportation agencies in other coastal regions to guide the incorporation of resilience in their planning practices,” Dennis Smith said.
An extensive review of academic literature and state planning documents was conducted to identify measurable technical, socioeconomic, and environmental resilience factors for wind- and water-related hazards. Transportation experts across the state of Florida were then surveyed to gain insight into the significance, relevance, and comparability of the identified factors. Finally, by statistically analyzing the survey responses, the resilience factors were prioritized to allow transportation agencies to optimize their resource allocation toward critical resilience aspects and effectively improve resilience within their limited budgets.
Dennis Smith, Dr. Choi, Ms. Hiba Jalloul, and Mr. Navid Nickdoost would like to see future research dedicated to further identifying and refining factors used to evaluate resilience. In addition, future researchers should start evaluating resilience in the context of other than wind- and water-related hazards (persistent drought, wildfire, subsidence).
To learn more about Dennis Smith, Dr. Choi, Ms. Hiba Jalloul and Mr. Navid Nickdoost and their work, click here, or to learn more about the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, click here.