Abstract Manager

Extreme weather events and other hazardous events often require a range of strategies to safely shelter people, distribute resources, and start recovery efforts. This is particularly important for underserved populations who often 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, and particularly 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. Additionally, we used spatial analysis to identify whether there was a relationship between resilience hub locations proposed by respondents and the transportation mode they would use to get there. We found that respondents prioritized basic services such as water, food, and restrooms during normal conditions and emergency scenarios. Moreover, our mode choice analysis highlighted the necessity of incorporating multimodal transportation options to increase accessibility to resilience hubs. Finally, we found that to achieve equitable results, resilience hubs should be placed in locations with the greatest need. Based on these results, we offer several policy recommendations that directly inform the equitable development of resilience hubs.