Environmental Resilience and Sustainability in the Face of Threat and Risk

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Natural hazards, particularly climate-related disasters, cause widespread disruption to society and increasingly inflict severe damage on physical and critical infrastructure. Communities have to navigate how to protect, adapt and rebuild their infrastructure to withstand future events. This panel examines the complex relationship between natural disasters and infrastructure, highlighting both the vulnerabilities and opportunities that arise in the face of external shocks. The discussion will center on the role of infrastructure in disaster risk reduction, the potential for post-disaster rebuilding to accelerate the adoption of sustainable technologies, and the pathways to enhancing resilience of critical infrastructure at the system level. Panelists will share research and insights on designing infrastructure that not only reduces the impacts of disruption but also advances long-term sustainability and equity.

First, infrastructure plays a vital role in mitigating the impacts of such hazards through structural protection and risk reduction. The first paper by Davlasheridze et al., assesses the distributional effects of a proposed coastal storm surge barrier in the Houston-Galveston region in Texas. They find that this protective infrastructure is estimated to reduce flooding losses substantially, but its benefits disproportionately accrue to the white homeowners and may exacerbate housing inequities in the region. Second, while disasters can be highly destructive, they may also drive the creative destruction of outdated infrastructure, creating opportunities to update the built environment with more sustainable technologies. The second paper, by Miao et al., empirically examines the diffusion of green buildings following floods, hurricanes, and temperature fluctuations across U.S. cities. Their findings suggest that natural hazards can have a positive influence on green building adoption, though the pattern of response varies by hazard type. Third, external environmental shocks can pose serious threat to the security of critical infrastructure, raising important questions about how to strengthen its resilience. The third paper by Choi et al., investigates supply chain resilience within the Defense Industrial Base, a critical infrastructure sector, by surveying firms involved in the production of key defense materials. The study shows that access to a larger pool of input suppliers enhances firms’ ability to avoid economic losses in the face of external disruptions.

Together, these papers illuminate the pathways and opportunities for building infrastructure systems that are more resilient, equitable, and sustainable in the face of growing environmental risks.

Policy Area

• Natural Resource, Energy, and Environmental Policy

Secondary Policy Area

• National & Homeland Security and Crisis Management

Chair

• Shan ZHOU, Purdue University

Discussants

• Hannah Farkas, Columbia University

• Renato Molina, University of Miami

Organizer

• Qing Miao, Rochester Institute of Technology

Individual Presentations

• Decision under evolving and conditional risk – distributional effect of a coastal storm suppression system - Presenting Author: Meri Davlasheridze, Texas A&M University; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Wei GUO, University of California, Riverside

• Rebuilding Greener? Green Building Diffusion After Extreme Weather Events - Presenting Author: Qing Miao, Rochester Institute of Technology; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Mark A Bremer, National Grid; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Wei GUO, University of California, Riverside; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Allison Reilly, University of Maryland, College Park

• Are More Competitive Supply Chains More Resilient? Evidence from Defense Industrial Base (DiB) Supply Chains - Presenting Author: Yiseon Choi, The Ohio State University; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Noah Dormady, The Ohio State University

• Violence in Environmental Enforcement: A Global Comparative Study and a Research Agenda - Presenting Author: Nathan J Cook