Design and validation of a data-driven infrastructure decision and planning framework for improving climate resiliency of small municipalities and rural communities
The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change calls for local governments to be the drivers toward resilient communities concerning climate change. Resilient municipalities must make decisions incorporating climate change to reinvest in an aging infrastructure network. The challenge is that small municipalities need access to information or the capacity to make informed decisions. Expenses related to specialized engineering for asset management and prioritization are a high cost for the municipality, where the municipality may see the value in prioritizing the funds toward operations and maintenance practices. In response to this challenge, a framework is created and presented to summarize this concept and tested in a case study using a small municipality in Saskatchewan. The framework includes the multi-criteria decision analysis, national guidelines for infrastructure design and engineering in the context of changing climate conditions, a political lens, and a case study method to calibrate and validate the data-driven decision and planning model. The case study location was chosen for logistical and geographical purposes, being close to Regina, SK, and involving town leadership interested in asset inventory, management, and planning exercises. Furthermore, relatively good meteorological data is available to connect to the framework and software platform developed through this project. In generalizing infrastructure into groups, understanding the effects of climate conditions, and requesting preferences of leaders and subject matter experts, an accessible application is available for municipalities to rank the sensitivity of their infrastructure to determine the starting point of building a resilient municipality. The framework demonstrates high-quality outputs and guidance tied directly to timely and appropriately scaled climate data, infrastructure information, and local conditions and political choices through the calibration and validation processes. The selected multi-criteria decision-analysis method for the framework is the PROMETHEE model. The model enables the use of qualitative and quantitative values that can address the chosen inputs. The framework is appropriate for smaller municipalities that may not have the capacity or financial resources to invest in larger-scale analyses and may also, in fact, be a valuable resource for larger municipalities and urban centers in the decision and planning for resilient infrastructure design under a changing climate.
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina