MS12 Risk-informed Resilience Enhancement Strategies for Urban Critical Infrastructure Systems

Prof. Wei Liu: liuw@tongji.edu.cn

Session Chairs:
Wei Liu, Prof., Tongji University, liuw@tongji.edu.cn
Min Ouyang, Prof., Huazhong University of Science and Technology, min.ouyang@hust.edu.cn
Naiyu Wang, Prof., Zhejiang University, naiyuwang@zju.edu.cn

Abstract of the special session:
The impact of natural disasters, including earthquakes and tsunamis, tornadoes, tropical cyclones and storm surge, on urban areas is likely to increase in the future due to population migration patterns, economic development and climate change. The aftermath of such disasters worldwide has shown that effective strategies for natural hazards mitigation must enhance resilience of urban communities as a whole in addition to performance of individual facilities. Urban resilience depends on large-scale, interdependent physical infrastructure systems and networks, including building inventories, transportation and lifeline systems, and socioeconomic networks that, individually and collectively, can sustain damage and support the quick recovery of urban areas and their communities following a disaster. It is essential that many disciplines including engineering, economics and sociology, and computer science, work in concert to develop decision frameworks that will enhance the resilience of urban areas exposed to natural disasters.
We propose a mini-symposium on risk-informed decision-making processes aimed at enhancing resilience at different urban scales. We envision a series of presentations from many disciplines, and particularly encourage presentations that will address both fundamental research and practical implementation issues that are related to resilience enhancement strategies. The mini-symposium will provide a vehicle for encouraging discussions and potential collaborations among attendees and will promote the application of resilience science toward the practice of resilience enhancement of urban communities.