Place-Based, Human-Centered Networks to Enhance Community Resilience and Equity

To promote community resilience and equity, this Disaster Resilience Research Grant (DRRG) project examines a series of place-based, human-centered networks, leveraging micromobility (lightweight vehicles such as bicycles or scooters), community social ties, and resilience hubs, to better meet those impacted by a disaster after the event. In particular, the project investigates the potential role of social networks and micromobility in enhancing the planning and operation of resilience hubs, an emerging infrastructural concept that has the potential to support more equitable disaster response and recovery efforts. The project investigates opportunities and challenges regarding enhancing resilience in two study locations: a metropolitan coastal city and an inland suburban community where the results can inform more equitable transportation operational strategies and preparedness measures for other highly vulnerable regions of the United States. The results of this research can extend the state of knowledge about how micromobility resilience hubs can support social network connectivity, increase community cohesion and capacity, and enhance community and national resilience. Communities and people are at the center of the research, learning from stakeholder expertise and experiences to adapt the resilience hub concept to meet the needs of future resilient cities. Research is needed to understand how micromobility infrastructure and community social networks can be effectively leveraged in disaster response. Using human-centered data and mixed-method analyses, this Disaster Resilience Research Grant project combines social network analysis, qualitative thematic analysis, discrete choice modeling, and agent-based simulations, to model a cohesive network for disaster-prone communities addressing the vulnerabilities of individuals and the community. The objectives of this project are to 1) understand the functions, usage, and applicability of micromobility in different disaster scenarios; 2) understand how micromobility systems and local social networks can be integrated to better support communities in both every day and disaster scenarios; and 3) validate the applicability of micromobility resilience hubs as connection points for micromobility and social networks in a range of communities and disaster types via the empirical analysis and synthesis of findings from focus groups, surveys, interviews, simulations, and on-the-ground field tests co-designed with community partners. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.