Resilience is a multi-faceted concept frequently used across a wide range of disciplines, practic... more Resilience is a multi-faceted concept frequently used across a wide range of disciplines, practices, and sectors. There is a growing recognition of the utility of resilience as a bridging concept that can facilitate inter-and transdisciplinary approaches to tackle complexities inherent in decision making under conditions of risk and uncertainty. Such conditions are common in urban planning, infrastructure planning, asset management, emergency planning, crisis management, and development processes where systemic interdependencies and interests at stake influence decisions and outcomes. A major challenge that can undermine the use of resilience for guiding planning activities is the value-laden and contested nature of the concept that can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Because resilience is context-specific and generally depends on local aspirations, this issue can be partially tackled by adopting participatory approaches for the conceptualization of resilience. This paper provides an example of how co-design methods can be employed for conceptualizing resilience. The Structured Interview Matrix was used as a technique to facilitate discussions among a diverse group of researchers and practitioners attending the International Workshop on Tools and Indicators for Assessing Urban Resilience. Participants deliberated on issues related to constituent elements of urban resilience, including its position vis-à-vis concepts such as adaptation and sustainability, institutional factors that can enable/constrain resilience building, and the challenges of conducting and operationalizing urban resilience assessment. This paper can be considered as an initial step towards further exploration of participatory approaches for clarifying the underlying dimensions of complex concepts such as resilience.
Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis, Jan 21, 2016
In emergent photovoltaics, nanoscale materials hold promise for optimizing device characteristics... more In emergent photovoltaics, nanoscale materials hold promise for optimizing device characteristics; however, the related impacts remain uncertain, resulting in challenges to decisions on strategic investment in technology innovation. We integrate multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and life-cycle assessment (LCA) results (LCA-MCDA) as a method of incorporating values of a hypothetical federal acquisition manager into the assessment of risks and benefits of emerging photovoltaic materials. Specifically, we compare adoption of copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS) devices with molybdenum back contacts to alternative devices employing graphite or graphene instead of molybdenum. LCA impact results are interpreted alongside benefits of substitution including cost reductions and performance improvements through application of multi-attribute utility theory. To assess the role of uncertainty we apply Monte Carlo simulation and sensitivity analysis. We find that graphene or graphite back contac...
ABSTRACT Existing community resilience assessment methods lack explicit reference to temporality ... more ABSTRACT Existing community resilience assessment methods lack explicit reference to temporality of disruptive events and often use standard metrics that may not be universally appropriate. Linkov et al.’s (Environ Sci Technol 47(18):10108–10110, 2013a; Environ Syst Decis 33(4):471–476, 2013b) Resilience Matrix (RM) framework utilizes local stakeholder-informed metrics aligned with the temporal stages of the National Academy of Science definition of disaster resilience. Here we demonstrate the application of the RM to coastal community resilience at Rockaway Peninsula, New York. We present the flexibility of the RM methodology by using both qualitative and quantitative metrics drawn from post-Hurricane Sandy reports. The presentation of the case study results reveals opportunities to prioritize investments and collaborate among responsible parties.
ABSTRACT Recent directives from the US Office of the President have detailed the need for resilie... more ABSTRACT Recent directives from the US Office of the President have detailed the need for resilience in the face of increased security threats and natural disasters. While these documents call for resilience improvements, no guiding framework for the assessment of resilience exists. Federal agencies are then deriving individual ways to address resilience, resulting in a series of parallel efforts instead of one national cohesive effort. This paper summarizes the portfolio of current efforts implemented by agencies to guide the integration of resilience assessment across the federal government. We present a critical overview on the state of resilience science within seven federal agencies and our perspective on the consistencies and disparities on how each agency is enacting presidential orders. The resulting analysis identifies differences in approaches to resilience and common ground upon which federal agencies can use to support more effective programs.
The San Gregorio fault is one of the principal faults of the San Andreas fault system in the San ... more The San Gregorio fault is one of the principal faults of the San Andreas fault system in the San Francisco Bay area. Located west of the active trace of the San Andreas fault and near the coast, the San Gregorio fault zone consists of at least two northwest-southeast-trending strands, the Coastways and Frijoles faults. Little is known about the slip
ABSTRACT Resilience management goes beyond risk management to address the complexities of large i... more ABSTRACT Resilience management goes beyond risk management to address the complexities of large integrated systems and the uncertainty of future threats, especially those associated with climate change. T he human body is resilient in its ability to persevere through infections or trauma. Even through severe disease, critical life functions are sustained and the body recovers, often adapting by developing immunity to further attacks of the same type. Our society's critical infrastructure — cyber, energy, water, transportation and communication — lacks the same degree of resilience, typically losing essential functionality following adverse events. Although the number of climatic extremes may intensify or become more frequent 1 , there is currently no scientific method available to precisely predict the long-term evolution and spatial distribution of tropical cyclones, atmospheric blockages and extra-tropical storm surges; nor are the impacts on society's infrastructure in any way quantified 2 . In the face of these unknowns, building resilience becomes the optimal course of action for large complex systems. Resilience, as a property of a system, must transition from just a buzzword to an operational paradigm for system management, especially under future climate change. Current risk analysis methods identify the vulnerabilities of specific system components to an expected adverse event and quantify the loss in functionality of the system as a consequence of the event occurring 3
The Science of the total environment, Jan 29, 2014
Dredging to maintain navigable waterways is important for supporting trade and economic sustainab... more Dredging to maintain navigable waterways is important for supporting trade and economic sustainability. Dredged sediments are removed from the waterways and then must be managed in a way that meets regulatory standards and properly balances management costs and risks. Selection of a best management alternative often results in stakeholder conflict regarding tradeoffs between local environmental impacts associated with less expensive alternatives (e.g., open water placement), more expensive measures that require sediment disposal in constructed facilities far away (e.g., landfills), or beneficial uses that may be perceived as risky (e.g., beach nourishment or island creation). Current sediment-placement decisions often focus on local and immediate environmental effects from the sediment itself, ignoring a variety of distributed and long-term effects from transportation and placement activities. These extended effects have implications for climate change, resource consumption, and env...
Resilience is a multi-faceted concept frequently used across a wide range of disciplines, practic... more Resilience is a multi-faceted concept frequently used across a wide range of disciplines, practices, and sectors. There is a growing recognition of the utility of resilience as a bridging concept that can facilitate inter-and transdisciplinary approaches to tackle complexities inherent in decision making under conditions of risk and uncertainty. Such conditions are common in urban planning, infrastructure planning, asset management, emergency planning, crisis management, and development processes where systemic interdependencies and interests at stake influence decisions and outcomes. A major challenge that can undermine the use of resilience for guiding planning activities is the value-laden and contested nature of the concept that can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Because resilience is context-specific and generally depends on local aspirations, this issue can be partially tackled by adopting participatory approaches for the conceptualization of resilience. This paper provides an example of how co-design methods can be employed for conceptualizing resilience. The Structured Interview Matrix was used as a technique to facilitate discussions among a diverse group of researchers and practitioners attending the International Workshop on Tools and Indicators for Assessing Urban Resilience. Participants deliberated on issues related to constituent elements of urban resilience, including its position vis-à-vis concepts such as adaptation and sustainability, institutional factors that can enable/constrain resilience building, and the challenges of conducting and operationalizing urban resilience assessment. This paper can be considered as an initial step towards further exploration of participatory approaches for clarifying the underlying dimensions of complex concepts such as resilience.
Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis, Jan 21, 2016
In emergent photovoltaics, nanoscale materials hold promise for optimizing device characteristics... more In emergent photovoltaics, nanoscale materials hold promise for optimizing device characteristics; however, the related impacts remain uncertain, resulting in challenges to decisions on strategic investment in technology innovation. We integrate multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) and life-cycle assessment (LCA) results (LCA-MCDA) as a method of incorporating values of a hypothetical federal acquisition manager into the assessment of risks and benefits of emerging photovoltaic materials. Specifically, we compare adoption of copper zinc tin sulfide (CZTS) devices with molybdenum back contacts to alternative devices employing graphite or graphene instead of molybdenum. LCA impact results are interpreted alongside benefits of substitution including cost reductions and performance improvements through application of multi-attribute utility theory. To assess the role of uncertainty we apply Monte Carlo simulation and sensitivity analysis. We find that graphene or graphite back contac...
ABSTRACT Existing community resilience assessment methods lack explicit reference to temporality ... more ABSTRACT Existing community resilience assessment methods lack explicit reference to temporality of disruptive events and often use standard metrics that may not be universally appropriate. Linkov et al.’s (Environ Sci Technol 47(18):10108–10110, 2013a; Environ Syst Decis 33(4):471–476, 2013b) Resilience Matrix (RM) framework utilizes local stakeholder-informed metrics aligned with the temporal stages of the National Academy of Science definition of disaster resilience. Here we demonstrate the application of the RM to coastal community resilience at Rockaway Peninsula, New York. We present the flexibility of the RM methodology by using both qualitative and quantitative metrics drawn from post-Hurricane Sandy reports. The presentation of the case study results reveals opportunities to prioritize investments and collaborate among responsible parties.
ABSTRACT Recent directives from the US Office of the President have detailed the need for resilie... more ABSTRACT Recent directives from the US Office of the President have detailed the need for resilience in the face of increased security threats and natural disasters. While these documents call for resilience improvements, no guiding framework for the assessment of resilience exists. Federal agencies are then deriving individual ways to address resilience, resulting in a series of parallel efforts instead of one national cohesive effort. This paper summarizes the portfolio of current efforts implemented by agencies to guide the integration of resilience assessment across the federal government. We present a critical overview on the state of resilience science within seven federal agencies and our perspective on the consistencies and disparities on how each agency is enacting presidential orders. The resulting analysis identifies differences in approaches to resilience and common ground upon which federal agencies can use to support more effective programs.
The San Gregorio fault is one of the principal faults of the San Andreas fault system in the San ... more The San Gregorio fault is one of the principal faults of the San Andreas fault system in the San Francisco Bay area. Located west of the active trace of the San Andreas fault and near the coast, the San Gregorio fault zone consists of at least two northwest-southeast-trending strands, the Coastways and Frijoles faults. Little is known about the slip
ABSTRACT Resilience management goes beyond risk management to address the complexities of large i... more ABSTRACT Resilience management goes beyond risk management to address the complexities of large integrated systems and the uncertainty of future threats, especially those associated with climate change. T he human body is resilient in its ability to persevere through infections or trauma. Even through severe disease, critical life functions are sustained and the body recovers, often adapting by developing immunity to further attacks of the same type. Our society's critical infrastructure — cyber, energy, water, transportation and communication — lacks the same degree of resilience, typically losing essential functionality following adverse events. Although the number of climatic extremes may intensify or become more frequent 1 , there is currently no scientific method available to precisely predict the long-term evolution and spatial distribution of tropical cyclones, atmospheric blockages and extra-tropical storm surges; nor are the impacts on society's infrastructure in any way quantified 2 . In the face of these unknowns, building resilience becomes the optimal course of action for large complex systems. Resilience, as a property of a system, must transition from just a buzzword to an operational paradigm for system management, especially under future climate change. Current risk analysis methods identify the vulnerabilities of specific system components to an expected adverse event and quantify the loss in functionality of the system as a consequence of the event occurring 3
The Science of the total environment, Jan 29, 2014
Dredging to maintain navigable waterways is important for supporting trade and economic sustainab... more Dredging to maintain navigable waterways is important for supporting trade and economic sustainability. Dredged sediments are removed from the waterways and then must be managed in a way that meets regulatory standards and properly balances management costs and risks. Selection of a best management alternative often results in stakeholder conflict regarding tradeoffs between local environmental impacts associated with less expensive alternatives (e.g., open water placement), more expensive measures that require sediment disposal in constructed facilities far away (e.g., landfills), or beneficial uses that may be perceived as risky (e.g., beach nourishment or island creation). Current sediment-placement decisions often focus on local and immediate environmental effects from the sediment itself, ignoring a variety of distributed and long-term effects from transportation and placement activities. These extended effects have implications for climate change, resource consumption, and env...
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