Transport infrastructure asset resilience: Managing government capabilities

Abstract

The management of the organisational capabilities needed to ensure the resilience of transport infrastructure assets is a challenge for governments worldwide. However, an absence of critical research in this area has exacerbated this challenge. The upshot, in this instance, has been the inability of governments to engender and enact an effective transport resilience strategy. This paper aims to fill this void and address the following research questions: (1) How do government organisational capabilities interact with one another to determine the resilience of transport projects? and (2) What is the best way to manage these organisational capabilities to aid a resilience strategy? Using Social Network Analysis, seven transport infrastructure case studies that were significantly impacted by natural hazards in the United Kingdom were used to answer the proposed research questions. The analysis revealed five inter-related factors are required to ensure the resilience of transport assets: (1) leadership; (2) reflexive (organisational) learning; (3) support from senior management; (4) a culture adept to resilience; and (5) continuous improvement (also investment) in asset absorbability, adaptability and vulnerability. The original contribution of this research is threefold: (1) a network providing a systematic visualisation of the interactions between organisational capabilities influencing asset resilience; (2) the prioritisation of governmental capabilities; and (3) the development of management framework providing a pathway that can accommodate environmental changes and asset resilience.