Flood resilience planning based on structured decision making and the eco-decisional network tool - A Louisiana case...

There is a growing focus in the scientific literature on building community resilience as a pathway to improving human well-being. Community resilience as an outcome for decision making has been defined as both a state to be achieved and a process to be followed. Here the latter definition is used, and resilience is considered an emergent property of a complex adaptive system that describes community fundamental objectives. This approach allows for an application of an eco-decisional network analysis combined with structured decision making to define resilience pathways and look for commonalities across those pathways that can be called Realized Roles. This approach was applied to a community case study focused on finding an integrated approach to increasing flood resilience in Louisiana, USA. The analysis revealed a suite of apparent roles across multiple network pathways highlighted by stakeholders as fundamental objectives. In particular, network analysis highlighted the importance of public over private investments, an emphasis on natural and built infrastructure for both safety and community building, maximizing flood safe housing access, as well as transportation networks and communication as community building tools. These outcomes were contrasted with a traditional flood resilience planning approach focused solely on flood protection and disaster response. Neither approach is a singular solution but a shift towards a more integrated response to flood resilience planning might consider community fundamental objectives, which can be defined, measured, and operationalized with a network analysis built on well-being outcomes and community stakeholder engagement.