Enabling Stakeholder Involvement in Coastal Disaster Resilience Planning

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Civil Engineering
• Urban Planning

Background:

• Coastal hazards like storm surge and sea-level rise pose significant threats to infrastructure and communities.
• Current risk management strategies often lack sufficient focus on coastal resilience and community stakeholder engagement.
• Lack of early stakeholder involvement in resilience planning leads to frustration and inadequate preparedness post-disaster.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a methodology for stakeholder-involved resilience discussions.
• To integrate performance assessment and scenario analysis for characterizing disruptions.
• To enhance community resilience planning for coastal hazards.

Main Methods:

• Developed a methodology for resilience discussions across physical, information, cognitive, and social domains.
• Incorporated resilience stages: prepare, absorb, recover, and adapt.
• Utilized performance assessment and scenario analysis to evaluate risk management priorities.

Main Results:

• The methodology facilitates comprehensive resilience discussions involving community stakeholders.
• It effectively integrates different domains and stages of resilience.
• Case study application at Mobile Bay, Alabama, demonstrated the methodology's utility.

Conclusions:

• Early and continuous stakeholder involvement is crucial for effective coastal resilience.
• The proposed methodology provides a structured approach to enhance community resilience planning.
• This framework aids in preparing for, absorbing, recovering from, and adapting to coastal hazards.