Case study of flood risk and vulnerability in the city of Atlanta – A social, economic, technical, and institutional perspective
The negative impacts of natural hazards on communities at all scales have been increasing. Floods comprise one such natural hazard that has emerged as one of the most destructive in the US and worldwide. While a lot of damage is estimated in terms of the cost of rebuilding infrastructure and direct...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2025-06-01
|
| Series: | Resilient Cities and Structures |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772741625000092 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849420095219040256 |
|---|---|
| author | Prerna Singh Adjo Amekudzi-Kennedy Baabak Ashuri Ty Parrillo Derek Rizzi Russell Clark Brian Woodall Heejun Chang |
| author_facet | Prerna Singh Adjo Amekudzi-Kennedy Baabak Ashuri Ty Parrillo Derek Rizzi Russell Clark Brian Woodall Heejun Chang |
| author_sort | Prerna Singh |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The negative impacts of natural hazards on communities at all scales have been increasing. Floods comprise one such natural hazard that has emerged as one of the most destructive in the US and worldwide. While a lot of damage is estimated in terms of the cost of rebuilding infrastructure and direct loss of economy, the negative impacts of such disruptions go beyond the physical infrastructure. The impact on (and of) the social and institutional framework is rarely examined in conjunction with the physical and technical aspects. This paper examines flood vulnerability and risk of a community at an intersection of social, ecological, technical, and intuitional perspectives, and presents a framework for a holistic flood vulnerability and risk assessment that has a strong foundation in all four aspects of a resilient community. The study builds on the existing risk, vulnerability, and hazard assessment approaches, and refines them with a holistic perspective. The study uses a mixed method approach with qualitative and quantitative methodologies to assess flood occurrence probabilities, vulnerability, and risk from the social, ecological, technical, and institutional perspectives. A case study of the City of Atlanta is conducted using the framework to assess the overall vulnerability and risk of the city. The results of this analysis show that the regions that have the highest probability of flood hazard occurrence also appear to have the highest social, ecological, and technical vulnerabilities in the Atlanta area. While the results are intuitive, the applications support a focus on holistic resilience building across these four criteria. This study is potentially useful to practitioners, researchers, government agencies, and community organizations working to mitigate flood risk particularly as this risk continues to evolve with the changing climate. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-444b0eb008124ea494190b5f6c1bb7dc |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2772-7416 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Resilient Cities and Structures |
| spelling | doaj-art-444b0eb008124ea494190b5f6c1bb7dc2025-08-20T03:31:51ZengElsevierResilient Cities and Structures2772-74162025-06-014211310.1016/j.rcns.2025.03.002Case study of flood risk and vulnerability in the city of Atlanta – A social, economic, technical, and institutional perspectivePrerna Singh0Adjo Amekudzi-Kennedy1Baabak Ashuri2Ty Parrillo3Derek Rizzi4Russell Clark5Brian Woodall6Heejun Chang7Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA; Corresponding author.Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USAGeorgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USAGeorgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USAGeorgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USAGeorgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USAGeorgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USAPortland State University, Portland, USAThe negative impacts of natural hazards on communities at all scales have been increasing. Floods comprise one such natural hazard that has emerged as one of the most destructive in the US and worldwide. While a lot of damage is estimated in terms of the cost of rebuilding infrastructure and direct loss of economy, the negative impacts of such disruptions go beyond the physical infrastructure. The impact on (and of) the social and institutional framework is rarely examined in conjunction with the physical and technical aspects. This paper examines flood vulnerability and risk of a community at an intersection of social, ecological, technical, and intuitional perspectives, and presents a framework for a holistic flood vulnerability and risk assessment that has a strong foundation in all four aspects of a resilient community. The study builds on the existing risk, vulnerability, and hazard assessment approaches, and refines them with a holistic perspective. The study uses a mixed method approach with qualitative and quantitative methodologies to assess flood occurrence probabilities, vulnerability, and risk from the social, ecological, technical, and institutional perspectives. A case study of the City of Atlanta is conducted using the framework to assess the overall vulnerability and risk of the city. The results of this analysis show that the regions that have the highest probability of flood hazard occurrence also appear to have the highest social, ecological, and technical vulnerabilities in the Atlanta area. While the results are intuitive, the applications support a focus on holistic resilience building across these four criteria. This study is potentially useful to practitioners, researchers, government agencies, and community organizations working to mitigate flood risk particularly as this risk continues to evolve with the changing climate.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772741625000092ResilienceInfrastructureVulnerabilityInland flooding |
| spellingShingle | Prerna Singh Adjo Amekudzi-Kennedy Baabak Ashuri Ty Parrillo Derek Rizzi Russell Clark Brian Woodall Heejun Chang Case study of flood risk and vulnerability in the city of Atlanta – A social, economic, technical, and institutional perspective Resilient Cities and Structures Resilience Infrastructure Vulnerability Inland flooding |
| title | Case study of flood risk and vulnerability in the city of Atlanta – A social, economic, technical, and institutional perspective |
| title_full | Case study of flood risk and vulnerability in the city of Atlanta – A social, economic, technical, and institutional perspective |
| title_fullStr | Case study of flood risk and vulnerability in the city of Atlanta – A social, economic, technical, and institutional perspective |
| title_full_unstemmed | Case study of flood risk and vulnerability in the city of Atlanta – A social, economic, technical, and institutional perspective |
| title_short | Case study of flood risk and vulnerability in the city of Atlanta – A social, economic, technical, and institutional perspective |
| title_sort | case study of flood risk and vulnerability in the city of atlanta a social economic technical and institutional perspective |
| topic | Resilience Infrastructure Vulnerability Inland flooding |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772741625000092 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT prernasingh casestudyoffloodriskandvulnerabilityinthecityofatlantaasocialeconomictechnicalandinstitutionalperspective AT adjoamekudzikennedy casestudyoffloodriskandvulnerabilityinthecityofatlantaasocialeconomictechnicalandinstitutionalperspective AT baabakashuri casestudyoffloodriskandvulnerabilityinthecityofatlantaasocialeconomictechnicalandinstitutionalperspective AT typarrillo casestudyoffloodriskandvulnerabilityinthecityofatlantaasocialeconomictechnicalandinstitutionalperspective AT derekrizzi casestudyoffloodriskandvulnerabilityinthecityofatlantaasocialeconomictechnicalandinstitutionalperspective AT russellclark casestudyoffloodriskandvulnerabilityinthecityofatlantaasocialeconomictechnicalandinstitutionalperspective AT brianwoodall casestudyoffloodriskandvulnerabilityinthecityofatlantaasocialeconomictechnicalandinstitutionalperspective AT heejunchang casestudyoffloodriskandvulnerabilityinthecityofatlantaasocialeconomictechnicalandinstitutionalperspective |