Understanding Social and Cultural Processes to Improve Transportation Infrastructure Planning

Background

Flooding is the most frequent global natural disaster. In 2018, floods impacted 34 million people globally and caused nearly $20 billion in economic losses. With climate change, increased precipitation and weather-related stress will increase functional deterioration of roadways, leading to greater economic and human costs. Multiple engineering solutions have been developed to protect roadways against flooding. However, these solutions have mainly focused on physical infrastructure, neglecting the impacts on communities and individuals. Changes in transportation systems, due to flooding could create inequality among communities with different demographic backgrounds. Low-income families are more dependent on public transportation, which results in longer commuting times. This commuting inequality gets exacerbated, due to disruptions in public transportation caused by flooding.

Recent studies have shown that social vulnerability is associated with flood outcomes. However, more consistent correlations are needed. This study will analyze the impacts of flooding events in transportation, and more specifically, in community mobility. We want to better understand the relationship between flood risk, social vulnerability, mobility impacts, and psychological impacts. With this, planners will be able to take better project prioritization decisions, as they will not only know their impact on the infrastructure itself but also on surrounding communities.

Research Objective

The objective of this project is to develop a composite index to be used by planners to take better investment decisions in transportation infrastructure, by considering the effects of the social vulnerability of communities, the risk of flooding, and its psychological consequences.

Research Methods

This research will be divided into 3 modules. In the first module, transportation mobility data collected from anonymized smartphones and other devices will be used to measure the short, mid, and long-term effects of flooding in public transportation. In the second module, surveys and experiments will be designed to measure the psychological outcomes associated with transportation behavior in flooded areas. In the third module, composites indices will be created, it will include the flood risk, mobility impacts, social vulnerability and psychological consequences.

Expected Contributions

This study will reveal the social and behavioral consequences of flood-damaged transportation infrastructure. It will also support the creation of metrics to prioritize investing in transportation infrastructure that mitigates flood risks considering their socio-behavioral impact on communities.

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