Community resilience in city emergency: Exploring the roles of environmental perception, social justice and community attachment in subjective well-being of vulnerable residents

Abstract

Despite the importance of social justice and community attachment for subjective well-being (SWB), the existing research fails to adequately examine these factors in urban emergencies. This study develops a theoretical framework to elucidate the roles of environment perception, social justice, and community attachment in SWB during urban emergencies, with a focus on vulnerable populations. Drawing on the context of COVID-19 lockdown in Shanghai, the research expands the definition of vulnerable groups, considering the factors including gender, income, immigrant, housing ownership, and the infection/exposure history. We examine the proposed framework with structural equation modelling and compare the vulnerable groups with multiple-group analysis. The analysis evidences the direct contribution of social justice and community attachment to SWB, and community attachment intermediates environmental perception and justice to SWB. These factors present heterogeneity amongst the vulnerable groups: community identity only affects the perceived health of residents with infection history, housing ownership and high income. This research revisits the interaction between residents and community environment in urban emergencies from a vulnerability perspective. The discussions provide novel insights for devising strategies for community service and infrastructure development aimed at enhancing community resilience. Also, the findings can benefit urban emergency planning at both community and city scale.