Leveraging community-generated data to enhance flood resilience assessments

The authors of this study examine how a digital mapping tool called Streetwyze can be leveraged to measure neighborhood-level exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity to flooding in Gulfport, Mississippi, across six dimensions of resilience: built, social, human, natural, governmental, and financial. The authors then evaluate the potential for community-generated data to complement and enhance existing resilience assessment frameworks.

As the frequency and severity of flood hazards continue to increase, there is an urgent need for resilience-building efforts that enable communities to prepare for, respond to, and recover from flood events more effectively. Numerous resilience assessment frameworks have been proposed to support this need, some of which have been implemented by local, state, and federal agencies to inform their planning efforts. However, these frameworks often rely on top-down data collection and analysis approaches and may lack meaningful engagement with community members, particularly underserved populations. This can present a challenge for achieving equitable risk reduction.

This study concludes that digital mapping campaigns designed in partnership with underserved communities can enhance the participation of diverse populations in data collection efforts and uncover new insights into local-scale factors affecting resilience to flooding. The resulting information can complement top-down resilience assessment approaches and improve procedural equity in decision-making processes that aim to reduce vulnerability to flooding.