Resilience Hubs: Conceptualization, Transportation Needs, and Travel Behaviour
Creators: Medeiros Ciriaco, Thayanne Gabryelle
Publisher: name: University of Alberta Library
Year: 2023

<p>Over the last decades, cities have experienced an increase in the frequency and intensity of hazards due to unprecedented climate change. Consequently, cities need to develop strategies and infrastructure that mitigate the impacts of climate change and protect lives. An emerging idea to address this challenge is the development of community-centered resilience hubs. During disasters, these facilities act as evacuation shelters and resource centers. However, on a daily basis, they remain functional by providing services and supplies that meet the essential needs of the community. Most research and guidance for resilience hubs is theoretical without any empirical evidence. From a perspective of community needs, evidence remains scarce on what services, resources, and programming are ideal for resilience hubs and when they are most useful (i.e., during a disaster or normal conditions). Critically, the resilience hub field has not properly addressed the transportation needs of communities, creating a wide gap in knowing how people will travel to and from these hubs.<br>
To address these gaps, I conducted a comprehensive literature analysis and an empirical study that used statistical tools and discrete choice models to understand transportation needs, travel behaviour, and hub location preferences. Data for the empirical studies came from a survey of Edmonton Metropolitan Area, Canada residents (n = 950) that was conducted between November 2022 and February 2023 via a panel of participants using Qualtrics.<br>
The literature review which focused on resilience hub current definition, examples, and related concepts (e.g., evacuation shelters, community hubs, and mobility hubs), detected characteristics and needs for planning hubs. It also found that current resilience hub locations are not methodical or optimized. Additionally, I uncovered that current examples of resilience hubs fail to consider transportation needs, travel behaviour, or travel accessibility. Through statistical analysis, I found that residents prefer more localized resilience hubs within their communities and personal vehicle is the principal mode choice of travel to/from a hub during normal days and emergencies. However, a sizable number of respondents would walk, take public transit, or use shared mobility services, indicating the need for multi-modality planning and operations. Behavioural modeling results uncovered that household characteristics impact the willingness to use a resilience hub during normal days, while individual characteristics influence hub usage as a temporary shelter in a disaster. I also determined that some household and individual characteristics influenced mode choice for traveling to/from hubs, but that trip purpose (resilience hub usage) was largely insignificant. Altogether, the results point to a need to better integrate transportation design, planning, and operations into resilience hubs, including equity-centered strategies for those who would use hubs the most. Based on the results, I provide transportation recommendations for agencies and highlight future opportunities for strategic planning for community-centered resilience.</p>