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Climate change presents a major threat to water and sanitation services. There is an urgent need to understand and improve resilience, particularly in rural communities and small towns in low- and middle-income countries that already struggle to provide universal access to services and face increasing threats from climate change. To date, there is a lack of a simple framework to assess the resilience of water and sanitation services which hinders the development of strategies to improve services. An interdisciplinary team of engineers and environmental and social scientists were brought together to investigate the development of a resilience measurement framework for use in low- and middle-income countries. Six domains of interest were identified based on a literature review, expert opinion, and limited field assessments in two countries. A scoring system using a Likert scale is proposed to assess the resilience of services and allow analysis at local and national levels to support improvements in individual supplies, identifying systematic faults, and support prioritisation for action. This is a simple, multi-dimensional framework for assessing the resilience of rural and small-town water and sanitation services in LMICs. The framework is being further tested in Nepal and Ethiopia and future results will be reported on its application.
Guy Howard; Anisha Nijhawan; Adrian Flint; Manish Baidya; Maria Pregnolato; Anish Ghimire; Moti Poudel; Eunice Lo; Subodh Sharma; Bizatu Mengustu; Dinku Mekbib Ayele; Abraham Geremew; Tadesse Wondim. The how tough is WASH framework for assessing the climate resilience of water and sanitation. npj Clean Water 2021, 4, 1 -10.
AMA StyleGuy Howard, Anisha Nijhawan, Adrian Flint, Manish Baidya, Maria Pregnolato, Anish Ghimire, Moti Poudel, Eunice Lo, Subodh Sharma, Bizatu Mengustu, Dinku Mekbib Ayele, Abraham Geremew, Tadesse Wondim. The how tough is WASH framework for assessing the climate resilience of water and sanitation. npj Clean Water. 2021; 4 (1):1-10.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGuy Howard; Anisha Nijhawan; Adrian Flint; Manish Baidya; Maria Pregnolato; Anish Ghimire; Moti Poudel; Eunice Lo; Subodh Sharma; Bizatu Mengustu; Dinku Mekbib Ayele; Abraham Geremew; Tadesse Wondim. 2021. "The how tough is WASH framework for assessing the climate resilience of water and sanitation." npj Clean Water 4, no. 1: 1-10.
Floods are one of the most frequent and damaging natural threats worldwide. Whereas the assessment of direct impacts is well advanced, the evaluation of indirect impacts is less frequently achieved. Indirect impacts are not due to the physical contact with flood water but result, for example, from the reduced performance of infrastructures. Linear critical infrastructures (such as roads and pipes) have an interconnected nature that may lead to failure propagation, so that impacts extend far beyond the inundated areas and/or period. This work presents the risk analysis of two linear infrastructure systems, i.e. the water distribution system (WSS) and the road network system. The evaluation of indirect flood impacts on the two networks is carried out for four flooding scenarios, obtained by a coupled 1D–quasi-2D hydraulic model. Two methods are used for assessing the impacts on the WSS and on the road network: a pressure-driven demand network model and a transport network disruption model respectively. The analysis is focused on the identification of (i) common impact metrics, (ii) vulnerable elements exposed to the flood, (iii) similarities and differences of the methodological aspects for the two networks, and (iv) risks due to systemic interdependency. The study presents an application to the metropolitan area of Florence (Italy). When interdependencies are accounted for, results showed that the risk to the WSS in terms of population equivalent (PE/year) can be reduced by 71.5 % and 41.8 %, if timely repairs to the WSS stations are accomplished by 60 and 120 min respectively; the risk to WSS in terms of pipe length (km yr−1) reduces by 53.1 % and 15.6 %. The study highlights that resilience is enhanced by systemic risk-informed planning, which ensures timely interventions on critical infrastructures; however, for indirect impacts and cascade effects, temporal and spatial scales are difficult to define. Perspective research could further improve this work by applying a system-risk analysis to multiple urban infrastructures.
Chiara Arrighi; Maria Pregnolato; Fabio Castelli. Indirect flood impacts and cascade risk across interdependent linear infrastructures. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 2021, 21, 1955 -1969.
AMA StyleChiara Arrighi, Maria Pregnolato, Fabio Castelli. Indirect flood impacts and cascade risk across interdependent linear infrastructures. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences. 2021; 21 (6):1955-1969.
Chicago/Turabian StyleChiara Arrighi; Maria Pregnolato; Fabio Castelli. 2021. "Indirect flood impacts and cascade risk across interdependent linear infrastructures." Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences 21, no. 6: 1955-1969.
Bridge scour is a complex bridge management problem. It is also a difficult forensic engineering challenge as the greatest risk occurs during large flows and flood events, when visual inspection of the bridge piers is often not possible. This paper presents a review of scour prediction and modelling methods, whose results are used to determine the key parameters that scour monitoring systems need to capture. Then, a review of existing monitoring approaches and technologies for scour monitoring is presented. The paper concludes with the proposal of a novel rating system to evaluate different scour monitoring techniques. The new rating system is trialled ex-post for seven previously published bridge scour monitoring case studies to illustrate the use of the new methodology.
Paul J Vardanega; Gianna Gavriel; Maria Pregnolato. Assessing the suitability of bridge-scour-monitoring devices. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Forensic Engineering 2021, 1 -13.
AMA StylePaul J Vardanega, Gianna Gavriel, Maria Pregnolato. Assessing the suitability of bridge-scour-monitoring devices. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Forensic Engineering. 2021; ():1-13.
Chicago/Turabian StylePaul J Vardanega; Gianna Gavriel; Maria Pregnolato. 2021. "Assessing the suitability of bridge-scour-monitoring devices." Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Forensic Engineering , no. : 1-13.
The world evolves. Cities have become the most common human settlement (>50% world population is urban). They act as major centres of economic activity and innovation, but also as hubs of crucial challenges. Cities are increasingly complex systems which have to address the enhanced demand, as well as sustainability criteria (e.g. meeting the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement target). Cities are also increasingly suffering from the impact of extreme weather, which are expected to threat US$4 trillion of assets by 2030 [1].
Science evolves too. New technology (e.g. Internet of Things) and concepts (e.g. smart cities) are emerging to manage risks and develop strategies for climate mitigation and adaptation. Infrastructure plays a core role in developing urban resilience, since they underpin all the key activities and constitute the backbone of a city. When infrastructure is robust and able to adapt, the whole city becomes less vulnerable to natural disasters.
Yet urban research does not fully fulfil the need of decision-makers: existing studies are mostly silo-based (e.g. based on single disciplines), or provide little scope for a business case, or do not offer platforms of practical implementation. Also, the uptake of developed technology (which requires specific expertise) is sometimes difficulty and seen as a further barrier.
This award lecture will review the major challenges that cities are facing today, and illustrate available tools to assess impact to infrastructure, alongside adaptation and technology options. Various international case studies will be presented regarding flooding and road networks [2, 3, 4, 5].
In the future, research and practice needs to interlink to innovate urban policy for mitigating urban climate change and adapting. Cities have never had so many and powerful tools available to tackle their challenges: while there is an immense potential, its realisation is still to unfold. The next decades are critical for developing schemes that address climate and sustainability goals, which could be solely successful with the application of latest science to practical contingencies.
Reference
[1] X Bai, RJ Dawson, D Ürge-Vorsatz, GC Delgado, AS Barau, S Dhakal, et al. (2018). Six research priorities for cities and climate change. Nature 555 (7694), 23-25. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-02409-z
[2] M Pregnolato, A Ford, V Glenis, S Wilkinson, R Dawson (2017). Impact of climate change on disruption to urban transport networks from pluvial flooding. Journal of Infrastructure Systems 23 (4), 04017015. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)IS.1943-555X.0000372
[3] C Arrighi, M Pregnolato, RJ Dawson, F Castelli (2019). Preparedness against mobility disruption by floods. Science of the Total Environment 654, 1010-1022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.191
[4] C Arrighi, M Pregnolato, F Castelli (2020). Indirect flood impacts and cascade risk across interdependent linear infrastructures. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences Discussions, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2020-371
[5] M Pregnolato, AO Winter, D Mascarenas, AD Sen, P Bates, MR Motley (2020). Assessing flooding impact to riverine bridges: an integrated analysis. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences Discussions, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2020-375
Maria Pregnolato. Infrastructure opportunities for the resilience of tomorrow’s cities. 2021, 1 .
AMA StyleMaria Pregnolato. Infrastructure opportunities for the resilience of tomorrow’s cities. . 2021; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMaria Pregnolato. 2021. "Infrastructure opportunities for the resilience of tomorrow’s cities." , no. : 1.
Linear infrastructure systems such as Water Supply System (WSS), electricity and transportation are considered Critical Infrastructures (CIs) because their failure would jeopardize public health and economic security, with repercussions on the whole society (Fekete, 2019). CIs are exposed to natural hazards, such as flooding, which is the most frequent and damaging natural threat worldwide; in particular, ~7.5% of road and rail infrastructures are exposed to a 1/100-year flood event worldwide.
Flooding can damage CIs directly (when impacts are due to the physical contact with floodwaters, i.e. direct impacts) and indirectly (when impacts are not due to the physical contact, and/or occur outside the inundated area in space or time, i.e. indirect or cascade impacts). Whereas the assessment of direct impacts is well-advanced, the evaluation of indirect impacts is less frequently achieved (Arrighi et al. 2019).
This work presents the risk analysis of two linear infrastructure systems, i.e. the water distribution system (WSS) and the road network system. The evaluation of indirect flood impacts on the two networks is carried out for four flooding scenarios, obtained by a coupled 1D-quasi 2D hydraulic model. Two methods are used for assessing the impacts on the water distribution system and on the road network, a Pressure-Driven Demand network model 15 and a transport network disruption model respectively. The analysis is focused on the identification of: (i) common impact metrics; (ii) vulnerable elements exposed to the flood; (iii) similarities and differences of the methodological aspects for the
two networks; (iv) risks due to systemic interdependency. The study presents an application to the metropolitan area of Florence (Italy). When interdependencies are accounted for, results showed that the risk to the WSS in terms of Population Equivalent (PE/year) can be reduced by 71.5% and 41.8%, if timely repairs to the WSS stations are accomplished by 60 and 120 minutes respectively; the risk to WSS in terms of pipes length (km/year) reduces by 53.1% and 15.6% (Arrighi et al. 2020).
This study represents one of the first attempts to model flooding impact to CIs for real-world networks, considering mutual interconnections, and it is expected to be relevant to researchers, as well as practitioners. The study highlights that resilience is enhanced by system risk-informed planning, which ensures timely interventions on critical infrastructures; however, temporal and spatial scales are difficult to define for indirect impacts and cascade effects. Perspective research could further improve this work by applying a system-risk analysis to multiple urban infrastructures.
Reference
A Fekete (2019). Critical infrastructure and flood resilience: cascading effects beyond water. Water, 6, e1370. https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1370
C Arrighi, M Pregnolato, RJ Dawson, F Castelli (2019). Preparedness against mobility disruption by floods. Science of the Total Environment 654, 1010-1022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.191
C Arrighi, M Pregnolato, F Castelli (2020). Indirect flood impacts and cascade risk across interdependent linear infrastructures. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences Discussions, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2020-371
Maria Pregnolato; Chiara Arrighi. Modelling cascading impacts and risks across linear infrastructure systems. 2021, 1 .
AMA StyleMaria Pregnolato, Chiara Arrighi. Modelling cascading impacts and risks across linear infrastructure systems. . 2021; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMaria Pregnolato; Chiara Arrighi. 2021. "Modelling cascading impacts and risks across linear infrastructure systems." , no. : 1.
Flood events are the most frequent cause of damage to infrastructure compared to any other natural hazard, and global changes (climate, socio-economic, technological) are likely to increase this damage. Transportation infrastructure systems are responsible for moving people, goods and services, and ensuring connection within and among urban areas. A failed link in this system can impact the community by threatening evacuation capability, recovery operations and the overall economy. Bridges are critical links in the wider urban system since they are associated with little redundancy and a high (re)construction cost. Riverine bridges are particularly prone to failure during flood events; in fact, the risks to bridges from high river flows and bank erosion have been recognized as crucial at global level. The interaction among flow, structure and network is complex, and yet to be fully understood. This study aims to establish rigorous practices of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for modelling hydrodynamic forces on inundated bridges, and understanding the consequences of such impact on the surrounding network. Objectives of this study are to model hydrodynamic forces as demand on the bridge structure, to advance a reliability analysis of the structure under the modelled loading and to assess the overall impact at systemic level. The flood-prone City of Carlisle (UK) is used as case study and a proof of concept. Implications of the hydrodynamic impact on the performance and functionality of the surrounding transport network are discussed. This research will help to fill the gap between current guidance for design and assessment of bridges within the overall transport system.
Maria Pregnolato; Andrew O. Winter; Dakota Mascarenas; Andrew D. Sen; Paul Bates; Michael R. Motley. Assessing flooding impact to riverine bridges: an integrated analysis. 2020, 2020, 1 -18.
AMA StyleMaria Pregnolato, Andrew O. Winter, Dakota Mascarenas, Andrew D. Sen, Paul Bates, Michael R. Motley. Assessing flooding impact to riverine bridges: an integrated analysis. . 2020; 2020 ():1-18.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMaria Pregnolato; Andrew O. Winter; Dakota Mascarenas; Andrew D. Sen; Paul Bates; Michael R. Motley. 2020. "Assessing flooding impact to riverine bridges: an integrated analysis." 2020, no. : 1-18.
Hydrological hazards, or ‘hydro-hazards’, are defined as “extreme events associated with the occurrence, movement and distribution of water, such as floods and droughts” (Visser-Quinn et al
Lindsay Beevers; Christopher White; Maria Pregnolato. Editorial to the Special Issue: Impacts of Compound Hydrological Hazards or Extremes. Geosciences 2020, 10, 496 .
AMA StyleLindsay Beevers, Christopher White, Maria Pregnolato. Editorial to the Special Issue: Impacts of Compound Hydrological Hazards or Extremes. Geosciences. 2020; 10 (12):496.
Chicago/Turabian StyleLindsay Beevers; Christopher White; Maria Pregnolato. 2020. "Editorial to the Special Issue: Impacts of Compound Hydrological Hazards or Extremes." Geosciences 10, no. 12: 496.
Floods are the most frequent and damaging natural threat worldwide. Whereas the assessment of direct impacts is well advanced, the evaluation of indirect impacts is less frequently achieved. Indirect impacts are not due to the physical contact with flood water but result from the reduced performance of infrastructures. Linear critical infrastructures (such as roads and pipes) have an interconnected nature that may lead to failure propagation, so that impacts extend far beyond the inundated areas and/or period. This work presents the risk analysis of two linear infrastructure systems, i.e. the water distribution system (WSS) and the road network system. The evaluation of indirect flood impacts on the two networks is carried out for four flooding scenarios, obtained by a coupled 1D-quasi 2D hydraulic model. Two methods are used for assessing the impacts on the water distribution system and on the road network, a Pressure-Driven Demand network model and a transport network disruption model respectively. The analysis is focused on the identification of: (i) common impact metrics; (ii) vulnerable elements exposed to the flood; (iii) similarities and differences of the methodological aspects for the two networks; (iv) risks due to systemic interdependency. The study presents an application to the metropolitan area of Florence (Italy). When interdependencies are accounted for, results showed that the risk to the WSS in terms of Population Equivalent (PE/year) can be reduced by 71.5 % and 41.8 %, if timely repairs to the WSS stations are accomplished by 60 and 120 minutes respectively; the risk to WSS in terms of pipes length (km/year) reduces by 53.1 % and 15.6 %. The study highlights that resilience is enhanced by system risk-informed planning, which ensures timely interventions on critical infrastructures; however, temporal and spatial scales are difficult to define for indirect impacts and cascade effects. Perspective research could further improve this work by applying a system-risk analysis to multiple urban infrastructures.
Chiara Arrighi; Maria Pregnolato; Fabio Castelli. Indirect flood impacts and cascade risk across interdependent linear infrastructures. 2020, 2020, 1 -18.
AMA StyleChiara Arrighi, Maria Pregnolato, Fabio Castelli. Indirect flood impacts and cascade risk across interdependent linear infrastructures. . 2020; 2020 ():1-18.
Chicago/Turabian StyleChiara Arrighi; Maria Pregnolato; Fabio Castelli. 2020. "Indirect flood impacts and cascade risk across interdependent linear infrastructures." 2020, no. : 1-18.
Bridges are crucial points of connection in the transport system, underpinning economic vitality, social well-being and logistics of modern communities. Bridges have also strategic relevance, since they support access to emergency services (e.g. hospitals) and utilities (e.g. water supplies). Bridges are mostly exposed to natural hazards, in particular riverine bridges to flooding, and disruption could lead to widespread negative effects. Therefore, protecting bridges enhances the resilience of cities and communities. Currently, most of the countries are not able to identify bridges at higher risk of failure, due to the unavailability of high-quality data, the mix ownership of the assets or the lack of a risk-based assessment. This paper introduces a risk-based approach to bridge management, alongside the gaps of current methodologies. Then, it presents a preliminary protocolled taxonomy for data collection of riverine bridges in flood-prone areas, while illustrating the implication of a national bridge inventory in the UK. This paper advocates the engagement of national authorities for developing a roadmap of policies leading to a unified bridge database functional for strategic risk assessment.
M. Pregnolato. Bridge safety is not for granted – A novel approach to bridge management. Engineering Structures 2019, 196, 109193 .
AMA StyleM. Pregnolato. Bridge safety is not for granted – A novel approach to bridge management. Engineering Structures. 2019; 196 ():109193.
Chicago/Turabian StyleM. Pregnolato. 2019. "Bridge safety is not for granted – A novel approach to bridge management." Engineering Structures 196, no. : 109193.
Civil responders currently have limited information available to them to support flood incident planning. A new generation of tools are emerging that produce more detailed understanding of flood impacts on people and accessibility during floods. These are typically applied in isolation, proving only a partial assessment of impacts. This paper integrates analysis of flood hydraulics, transport accessibility and human safety to explore the impact of flooding on pedestrians and drivers, and its implications on emergency routes and service areas. A reference scenario, developed and used by the local Civil Protection Agency, is applied to Galluzzo in Florence (Italy). Results shows that 37% of inhabitants live close to roads where they can be swept away, and 78% live in locations where parked vehicles can be transported by floodwaters. Furthermore, at its worst 22.5% of road extension is inaccessible; and all hospitals, fire and police stations cannot be reached, highlighting the need to take preventative action from the outset of an event that is predicted to lead to substantial inundation. Integration of multiple indicators of flood impacts, especially those most relevant to human safety, is fundamental to civil responders if they are to successfully planning and implement emergency response operations in urban environments.
C. Arrighi; Maria Pregnolato; R.J. Dawson; F. Castelli. Preparedness against mobility disruption by floods. Science of The Total Environment 2018, 654, 1010 -1022.
AMA StyleC. Arrighi, Maria Pregnolato, R.J. Dawson, F. Castelli. Preparedness against mobility disruption by floods. Science of The Total Environment. 2018; 654 ():1010-1022.
Chicago/Turabian StyleC. Arrighi; Maria Pregnolato; R.J. Dawson; F. Castelli. 2018. "Preparedness against mobility disruption by floods." Science of The Total Environment 654, no. : 1010-1022.
Maria Pregnolato; David A. Dawson. Adaptation investments for transport resilience: trends and recommendations. International Journal of Safety and Security Engineering 2018, 8, 515 -527.
AMA StyleMaria Pregnolato, David A. Dawson. Adaptation investments for transport resilience: trends and recommendations. International Journal of Safety and Security Engineering. 2018; 8 (4):515-527.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMaria Pregnolato; David A. Dawson. 2018. "Adaptation investments for transport resilience: trends and recommendations." International Journal of Safety and Security Engineering 8, no. 4: 515-527.
Short-duration, high-intensity rainfall causes significant disruption to transport operations, and climate change is projected to increase the frequency and intensity of these events. Disruption costs of flooding are currently calculated using crude approaches. To support improved business cases for adapting urban infrastructure to climate change, this paper presents an integrated framework that couples simulations of flooding and transport to calculate the impacts of disruption. A function, constructed from a range of observational and experimental data sources, is used to relate flood depth to vehicle speed, which is more realistic than the typical approach of categorizing a road as either blocked or free flowing. The framework is demonstrated on Newcastle upon Tyne in the United Kingdom and shows that by the 2080s disruption across the city from a 1-in-50-year event could increase by 66%. A criticality index is developed and is shown to provide an effective metric to prioritize intervention options in the road network. In this case, just two adaptation interventions can reduce travel delays across the city by 32%.
Maria Pregnolato; Alistair Ford; Vassilis Glenis; Sean Wilkinson; Richard Dawson. Impact of Climate Change on Disruption to Urban Transport Networks from Pluvial Flooding. Journal of Infrastructure Systems 2017, 23, 04017015 .
AMA StyleMaria Pregnolato, Alistair Ford, Vassilis Glenis, Sean Wilkinson, Richard Dawson. Impact of Climate Change on Disruption to Urban Transport Networks from Pluvial Flooding. Journal of Infrastructure Systems. 2017; 23 (4):04017015.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMaria Pregnolato; Alistair Ford; Vassilis Glenis; Sean Wilkinson; Richard Dawson. 2017. "Impact of Climate Change on Disruption to Urban Transport Networks from Pluvial Flooding." Journal of Infrastructure Systems 23, no. 4: 04017015.
Maria Pregnolato; Alistair Ford; Sean M. Wilkinson; Richard J. Dawson. The impact of flooding on road transport: A depth-disruption function. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment 2017, 55, 67 -81.
AMA StyleMaria Pregnolato, Alistair Ford, Sean M. Wilkinson, Richard J. Dawson. The impact of flooding on road transport: A depth-disruption function. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment. 2017; 55 ():67-81.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMaria Pregnolato; Alistair Ford; Sean M. Wilkinson; Richard J. Dawson. 2017. "The impact of flooding on road transport: A depth-disruption function." Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment 55, no. : 67-81.
Transport infrastructure networks are increasingly vulnerable to disruption from extreme rainfall events due to increasing surface water runoff from urbanization and changes in climate. Impacts from such disruptions typically extend far beyond the flood footprint, because of the interconnection and spatial extent of modern infrastructure. An integrated flood risk assessment couples high resolution information on depth and velocity from the CityCAT urban flood model with empirical analysis of vehicle speeds in different depths of flood water, to perturb a transport accessibility model and determine the impact of a given event on journey times across the urban area. A case study in Newcastle-upon-Tyne (UK) shows that even minor flooding associate with a 1 in 10 year event can cause traffic disruptions of nearly half an hour. Two adaptation scenarios are subsequently tested (i) hardening (i.e. flood protection) a single major junction, (ii) introduction of green roofs across all buildings. Both options have benefits in terms of reduced disruption, but for a 1 in 200 year event greening all roofs in the city provided only three times the benefit of protecting one critical road junction, highlighting the importance of understanding network attributes such as capacity and flows.
Maria Pregnolato; Alistair Ford; Richard Dawson. Disruption and adaptation of urban transport networks from flooding. E3S Web of Conferences 2016, 7, 07006 .
AMA StyleMaria Pregnolato, Alistair Ford, Richard Dawson. Disruption and adaptation of urban transport networks from flooding. E3S Web of Conferences. 2016; 7 ():07006.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMaria Pregnolato; Alistair Ford; Richard Dawson. 2016. "Disruption and adaptation of urban transport networks from flooding." E3S Web of Conferences 7, no. : 07006.
Critical infrastructure networks, including transport, are crucial to the social and economic function of urban areas but are at increasing risk from natural hazards. Minimizing disruption to these networks should form part of a strategy to increase urban resilience. A framework for assessing the disruption from flood events to transport systems is presented that couples a high-resolution urban flood model with transport modelling and network analytics to assess the impacts of extreme rainfall events, and to quantify the resilience value of different adaptation options. A case study in Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK shows that both green roof infrastructure and traditional engineering interventions such as culverts or flood walls can reduce transport disruption from flooding. The magnitude of these benefits depends on the flood event and adaptation strategy, but for the scenarios considered here 3–22% improvements in city-wide travel times are achieved. The network metric of betweenness centrality, weighted by travel time, is shown to provide a rapid approach to identify and prioritize the most critical locations for flood risk management intervention. Protecting just the top ranked critical location from flooding provides an 11% reduction in person delays. A city-wide deployment of green roofs achieves a 26% reduction, and although key routes still flood, the benefits of this strategy are more evenly distributed across the transport network as flood depths are reduced across the model domain. Both options should form part of an urban flood risk management strategy, but this method can be used to optimize investment and target limited resources at critical locations, enabling green infrastructure strategies to be gradually implemented over the longer term to provide city-wide benefits. This framework provides a means of prioritizing limited financial resources to improve resilience. This is particularly important as flood management investments must typically exceed a far higher benefit–cost threshold than transport infrastructure investments. By capturing the value to the transport network from flood management interventions, it is possible to create new business models that provide benefits to, and enhance the resilience of, both transport and flood risk management infrastructures. Further work will develop the framework to consider other hazards and infrastructure networks.
Maria Pregnolato; Alistair Ford; Craig Robson; Vassilis Glenis; Stuart Barr; Richard Dawson. Assessing urban strategies for reducing the impacts of extreme weather on infrastructure networks. Royal Society Open Science 2016, 3, 160023 .
AMA StyleMaria Pregnolato, Alistair Ford, Craig Robson, Vassilis Glenis, Stuart Barr, Richard Dawson. Assessing urban strategies for reducing the impacts of extreme weather on infrastructure networks. Royal Society Open Science. 2016; 3 (5):160023.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMaria Pregnolato; Alistair Ford; Craig Robson; Vassilis Glenis; Stuart Barr; Richard Dawson. 2016. "Assessing urban strategies for reducing the impacts of extreme weather on infrastructure networks." Royal Society Open Science 3, no. 5: 160023.