Equitable transportation and resilience hubs: Analysis of underserved population needs, usage, and travel behaviour
Extreme weather events and other hazardous events often require a range of strategies to safely shelter people, distribute resources, and facilitate recovery efforts. This is particularly important for underserved populations who usually lack reliable access to shelters, transportation, and social n...
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| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590198224003002 |
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| author | Thayanne G.M. Ciriaco Syeda Narmeen Zehra Veronica Wambura Stephen D. Wong |
| author_facet | Thayanne G.M. Ciriaco Syeda Narmeen Zehra Veronica Wambura Stephen D. Wong |
| author_sort | Thayanne G.M. Ciriaco |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Extreme weather events and other hazardous events often require a range of strategies to safely shelter people, distribute resources, and facilitate recovery efforts. This is particularly important for underserved populations who usually lack reliable access to shelters, transportation, and social networks. To begin addressing these problems and increase community capacity, resilience hubs – physical locations that support residents in emergencies and everyday conditions – have emerged as a possible equitable strategy. Despite potential benefits for underserved populations, research and practice have yet to consider how different demographic groups will use or travel to/from these hubs.To address these gaps, we conducted an empirical study using survey data from 950 respondents in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region in Alberta, Canada. Of these respondents, we focused on several underserved groups. Simple descriptive statistics and statistical tests were used to understand the groups’ needs and observe similarities and divergences between groups. We also calculated spatial statistics to identify how mode choices varied with people’s preferred resilience hub locations. We found a high willingness of groups to use resilience hubs, especially in emergency conditions. However, differences between groups and with non-underserved groups were relatively moderate and varied. Respondents prioritized a range of basic services along with transportation-related elements, including accessibility for individuals with disabilities, transit connections, parking, and walkability. Moreover, our mode choice analysis highlighted the necessity of incorporating multimodal transportation options to resilience hubs. We offer several policy recommendations that inform the equitable development of resilience hubs, including the importance of local placement and needs-based services. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e8112c1044184f02b2481302c2f97e39 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2590-1982 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives |
| spelling | doaj-art-e8112c1044184f02b2481302c2f97e392025-02-09T05:01:15ZengElsevierTransportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives2590-19822025-01-0129101314Equitable transportation and resilience hubs: Analysis of underserved population needs, usage, and travel behaviourThayanne G.M. Ciriaco0Syeda Narmeen Zehra1Veronica Wambura2Stephen D. Wong3Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Resilient and Sustainable Mobility and Evacuation Group, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Corresponding author at: 6-269 Donadeo Innovation Centre for Engineering, 9211-116 St, Edmonton, AB T6G 2H5, Canada.Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Resilient and Sustainable Mobility and Evacuation Group, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Resilient and Sustainable Mobility and Evacuation Group, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Resilient and Sustainable Mobility and Evacuation Group, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, CanadaExtreme weather events and other hazardous events often require a range of strategies to safely shelter people, distribute resources, and facilitate recovery efforts. This is particularly important for underserved populations who usually lack reliable access to shelters, transportation, and social networks. To begin addressing these problems and increase community capacity, resilience hubs – physical locations that support residents in emergencies and everyday conditions – have emerged as a possible equitable strategy. Despite potential benefits for underserved populations, research and practice have yet to consider how different demographic groups will use or travel to/from these hubs.To address these gaps, we conducted an empirical study using survey data from 950 respondents in the Edmonton Metropolitan Region in Alberta, Canada. Of these respondents, we focused on several underserved groups. Simple descriptive statistics and statistical tests were used to understand the groups’ needs and observe similarities and divergences between groups. We also calculated spatial statistics to identify how mode choices varied with people’s preferred resilience hub locations. We found a high willingness of groups to use resilience hubs, especially in emergency conditions. However, differences between groups and with non-underserved groups were relatively moderate and varied. Respondents prioritized a range of basic services along with transportation-related elements, including accessibility for individuals with disabilities, transit connections, parking, and walkability. Moreover, our mode choice analysis highlighted the necessity of incorporating multimodal transportation options to resilience hubs. We offer several policy recommendations that inform the equitable development of resilience hubs, including the importance of local placement and needs-based services.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590198224003002Community resilienceEquityDisaster preparednessResilience hubs |
| spellingShingle | Thayanne G.M. Ciriaco Syeda Narmeen Zehra Veronica Wambura Stephen D. Wong Equitable transportation and resilience hubs: Analysis of underserved population needs, usage, and travel behaviour Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives Community resilience Equity Disaster preparedness Resilience hubs |
| title | Equitable transportation and resilience hubs: Analysis of underserved population needs, usage, and travel behaviour |
| title_full | Equitable transportation and resilience hubs: Analysis of underserved population needs, usage, and travel behaviour |
| title_fullStr | Equitable transportation and resilience hubs: Analysis of underserved population needs, usage, and travel behaviour |
| title_full_unstemmed | Equitable transportation and resilience hubs: Analysis of underserved population needs, usage, and travel behaviour |
| title_short | Equitable transportation and resilience hubs: Analysis of underserved population needs, usage, and travel behaviour |
| title_sort | equitable transportation and resilience hubs analysis of underserved population needs usage and travel behaviour |
| topic | Community resilience Equity Disaster preparedness Resilience hubs |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590198224003002 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT thayannegmciriaco equitabletransportationandresiliencehubsanalysisofunderservedpopulationneedsusageandtravelbehaviour AT syedanarmeenzehra equitabletransportationandresiliencehubsanalysisofunderservedpopulationneedsusageandtravelbehaviour AT veronicawambura equitabletransportationandresiliencehubsanalysisofunderservedpopulationneedsusageandtravelbehaviour AT stephendwong equitabletransportationandresiliencehubsanalysisofunderservedpopulationneedsusageandtravelbehaviour |