Evaluation of infrastructure resilience

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to undertake an evaluation of the resilient capacity of the infrastructure systems in the city of Wuhan. This evaluation focuses on the ability of the infrastructure to cope with extreme weather from multiple dimensions and to propose effective interventions against such risks.Design/methodology/approachThis research draws on a review and synthesis of the theory of resilience and adopts the literature induction method to build an evaluation index for five urban systems, namely: roads; water supply and drainage; energy and power; urban disaster reduction; and communications. Index data from the period of 1990–2019 are combined with the views of experts from Wuhan and analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) to calculate the weightings of the five urban systems. A fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method is then used to investigate the resilient capacity of these five urban infrastructure systems in the city.FindingsGenerally, the results show that the resilience of the infrastructure systems in Wuhan are at a high level. Based on the results, the communications and roads systems are found to have higher levels of resilience, while the disaster mitigation system is found to have a relatively low level of resilience. Recommendations are suggested to help improve resilience and prioritize investments in the development of the city's infrastructure systems.Research limitations/implicationsThe development of these specific indicators and quantitative requirements have not been studied in detail, so a more comprehensive, systematic evaluation of quantitative indicators and methods of urban infrastructure resilience is still required. In addition, the research on the resilience of urban infrastructure under extreme weather is still in its infancy, and it is essential to further increase the quantitative assessment of the resilience of urban infrastructure under construction. This will also be indispensable information in the subsequent implementation of a resilient planning process.Originality/valueThis research builds a rigorous and reliable evaluation model that avoids any subjective bias in the results and represents a new approach to evaluate the resilience of the infrastructure systems in the city of Wuhan, which could be applied to other cities.

Urban resilience for sustainable homeownership: the role of self-help in the ancient city of Benin, Nigeria

“…For this study, from an urban perspective, resilience is defined as “ the potential of an urban system to survive, adapt, and thrive given a range of disturbances” (Spaans and Waterhout, 2017, p. 111). Urban resilience is all about human-made catastrophes (Coaffee, 2016; Xu et al ., 2023), natural catastrophes (Campanella, 2006; Xu et al ., 2023), and climate change (Leichenko, 2011). It shows that urban resilience is all about emergency and disaster planning.…”

“…There is a lack of resilience in urban low-income earners, compounded by fewer resources (World Bank, 2015). However, the need to improve resilience and prioritise investments in developing urban infrastructure systems cannot be over-emphasised (Xu et al, 2023). The impact of climate change on housing delivery can further hinder efforts to mitigate housing shortages and poverty reduction (Hallegatte et al, 2015).…”

Resilience in Infrastructure Systems: A Comprehensive Review

“…Barabadi et al [32] assessed the resilience of health infrastructure before and after COVID-19. Xu, Cong, and Proverbs [33] proposed a multidimensional evaluation index system for assessing the resilient capacity of infrastructure systems to cope with the extreme weather in Wuhan.…”