ISSR

ISSR Social Science Research Scholar - Biography

Sustainable Adaptive Gradients in the Coastal Environment: Reconceptualizing the Role of Infrastructure in Resilience

There is a pressing need for policy-relevant research to better understand the responsiveness of engineered, social, and ecological coastal infrastructures to current hazards and the evolving effects of climate change. The core objective of this project is the development of a new approach to resilient infrastructure based on multidisciplinary research insights. Key elements of this theory include framing communities as occurring within adaptive gradients, addressing spillover and equity effects of infrastructure decisions, and using evidence regarding the impacts of fast-onset disasters (hurricanes, tsunamis) to improve practices and policies for chronic, slow-onset disasters such as sea level rise. Our multidisciplinary network will use the Caribbean as the project focal point, to examine a wide spectrum of social, geological, and engineering situations with particularly pressing needs for increasing coastal resilience.