Assessing the Adaptability of Resilience Models

Hazards such as hurricanes or wildfires are notorious for their severity in frontline and coastal communities and their difficulty to predict and mitigate. Scientists have increasingly investigated why systemically designed models often fail to meet their objectives and reduce vulnerability. This project tests the adaptability of resilience models across multiple scales.

Lessons learned from this research will be ever more important for communities facing disasters of increased intensity. Findings will be widely shared and made available open access, to improve the public’s understanding of science and the scientific method. In addition, the research offers a range of broader impacts such as integrating research and teaching and building research infrastructure.

This research asks how adaptation of models from one context to another is possible, and how communities can craft resilience plans addressing local realities. This research also identifies factors that facilitate or hinder implementation. Answering these questions, this research employs a mixed-method, multi-sited approach including public conferences, hazard mapping, and risk perception surveys.

Resilience plans are crafted at workshops bringing together scholars/students, organizations, elected officials and community leaders learning about other successful disaster risk reduction models. Finally, the research facilitates the development of a workable process to reduce vulnerability and adapt to environmental variability.

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.