Abstract
Following a flood the functioning of critical infrastructure (CI), such as power and transportation networks, plays an important role in recovery and the resilience of the city. Previous research investigated resilience indicators, however, there is no method in the literature to quantify the resilience of CI to flooding specifically or to quantify the effect of measures. This new method to quantify CI resilience to flooding proposes an expected annual disruption (EADIS) metric and curve of disruption versus likelihood. The units used for the EADIS metric for disruption are in terms of people affected over time (person × days). Using flood modelling outputs, spatial infrastructure, and population data as inputs, this metric is used to benchmark CI resilience to flooding and test the improvement with resilience enhancing measures. These measures are focused on the resilience aspects robustness, redundancy and flexibility. Relative improvements in resilience were quantified for a case study area in Toronto, Canada and it was found that redundancy, flexibility, and robustness measures resulted in 44, 30, and 48% reductions in EADIS respectively. While there are limitations, results suggest that this method can effectively quantify CI resilience to flooding and quantify relative improvements with resilience enhancing measures for cities.
Highlights
Disruption and damage to cities due to extreme weather events is on the rise
This paper focuses on the question: How can critical infrastructure (CI) Resilience to flooding be quantified and can this be used to evaluate the effectiveness of CI resilience measures? The paper outlines a method to assess and represent the resilience of the CI of cities and to assess and compare the effect of several types of measures on resilience
This study yielded two critical key findings, (1) that the resilience of CI to flooding can be quantified, and (2) that this metric can be used to compare the effectiveness of resilience enhancing measures
Summary
Cities are facing increasing shocks and stressors that impact the daily functioning of the city These extreme weather events can include winter storms, droughts, and floods. Many policy documents stress the need to increase resilience, and in the interest of working toward this goal several organizations such as the Rockefeller Foundation are working directly with cities to do so Their “Resilient Cities Framework” developed in partnership with ARUP outlines a methodology to qualitatively evaluate the resilience of cities using 52 indicators. The paper outlines a method to assess and represent the resilience of the CI of cities and to assess and compare the effect of several types of measures on resilience. Wider conclusions on the quantification of resilience and resilience measures are provided
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