Doctoral Dissertation Research in DRMS: Understanding the Perceptions of Urban Residents in the U.S. Gulf Coast Region towards Green Infrastructure

DRMS 博士论文研究：了解美国墨西哥湾沿岸地区城市居民对绿色基础设施的看法

• 批准号: 2117222
• 负责人: Gerard Kyle
• 金额: $ 1.89万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M AgriLife Research
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-07-15 至 2022-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2117222&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; DRMS; Understanding

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).Flooding continues to pose significant threats to the physical, social, and economic well-being of the communities in the Gulf Coast region. In urban coastal communities that have increasingly dense development and growing populations, more and more people, infrastructure, and property are put at risk from chronic, disruptive flooding events. Traditional structural mitigation and protection measures, such as flood barriers and levees, often require extensive investment in buildings and infrastructure and sometimes result in unintended consequences caused by interruption to natural processes, inadequate protection, and even failure during disaster events. A potentially complementary approach is the development of green infrastructure (GI) that has been demonstrated to be an efficient flood mitigation measure and an effective approach for building community resilience. Despite governmental efforts in promoting GI, at the local level, urban residents sometimes lack the motivation to adopt GI or contribute to the development of GI within their communities. Even when GI is provided at no cost or with incentives, resident participation rates in GI projects have been low. The lack of acceptance and adoption of GI may prevent coastal communities from taking full advantage of the array of services afforded by GI and miss opportunities to build resilience and protect themselves from future extreme flood events. This research aims to better understand public perceptions of GI by examining the attitudes, preferences, and actions related to GI of residents living in cities in the Texas Gulf Coast region. A combination of methods, such as survey research, multivariate statistical analysis, Public Participation Geographic Information System (PPGIS), and spatial analyses provide a comprehensive analysis of public perceptions towards GI within the Texas Gulf Coast. This research implements novel interdisciplinary methods to examine the perceptions of residents towards GI from several Texas Gulf Coast cities. First, the research applies Protection Motivation Theory as a theoretical framework to explore factors shaping residents’ evaluations and attitudes toward GI practices. These factors include residents’ perceptions of flood risk, their previous flood experience, their reliance on public flood protection, the efficacy and costs of GI practices, and their perceived ability to perform these actions. Second, the study conducts an online map-based survey through PPGIS which provides spatial detail about residents’ perceptions of the current urban green space network (the key component of GI) and needs for green space development within the broader community. The PPGIS method complements conventional survey techniques to expand understandings of how local residents perceive their urban green spaces and surrounding community in addition to providing insight on the extent to which the public’s perceptions of flood vulnerability align with experts opinion of local planning agencies. Findings can directly support local governments, decision makers, and urban planners in their effort to identify more effective GI planning and policy that can meet the needs of their residents and encourage implementation. In turn, the work assists communities' efforts to build capacity to mitigate future flood hazards resulting in more resilient Gulf Coast communities. Applications of this work could be implemented in many other coastal communities vulnerable to flood hazards in the United States and worldwide.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该奖项是根据2021年《美国救援计划法》的全部或部分资助的（公共法117-2）。污染继续对墨西哥湾沿岸地区社区的身体，社会和经济福祉构成重大威胁。在城市沿海社区中，人们越来越多地发展，人口不断增长，越来越多的人，基础设施和财产受到慢性，破坏性洪水事件的危险。传统的结构缓解和保护措施（例如洪水障碍和水平）通常需要在建筑物和基础设施上进行大量投资，有时会导致自然过程中断，防护不足甚至在灾难事件中失败引起的意外后果。一种潜在的完整方法是绿色基础设施（GI）的发展，这被证明是一种有效的洪水减轻措施和建立社区弹性的有效方法。尽管政府在促进GI方面的努力，在地方一级，城市居民有时缺乏采用GI或为社区内GI发展做出贡献的动机。即使免费提供GI或激励措施，GI项目的居民参与率也很低。缺乏接受GI的接受和采用可能会阻止沿海社区充分利用GI提供的一系列服务，而错过了建立弹性并保护自己免受未来极端洪水事件的机会。这项研究旨在通过研究与居住在得克萨斯州墨西哥湾沿岸地区城市的居民有关的参与者，偏好和行动来更好地了解公众对GI的看法。方法的结合，例如调查研究，多元统计分析，公共参与地理信息系统（PPGIS）和空间分析，提供了对得克萨斯州墨西哥湾沿岸GI的公众看法的全面分析。这项研究实施了新型的跨学科方法，以检查得克萨斯州墨西哥湾沿岸几个城市的居民对GI的看法。首先，该研究将保护动机理论作为理论框架，以探索塑造居民评估并参加GI实践的因素。这些因素包括居民对洪水风险的看法，他们先前的洪水经验，对公共洪水保护的缓解，GI实践的效率和成本以及他们所采取这些行动的感知能力。其次，该研究通过PPGI进行了基于地图的在线调查，该调查提供了有关居民对当前城市绿色空间网络（GI的关键组成部分）的看法的空间详细信息，并提供了更广泛社区内绿色空间开发的需求。 PPGIS方法完成了传统的调查技术，以扩展对当地居民对城市绿色空间和周围社区的看法，除了提供有关公众对洪水脆弱性的看法与专家对当地规划机构的看法保持一致的程度的程度。调查结果可以直接支持地方政府，决策者和城市规划师，以确定可以满足其居民需求并鼓励实施的更有效的GI计划和政策。反过来，该工作有助于社区努力减轻未来的洪水危害，从而导致墨西哥湾沿海社区更具抵抗力。这项工作的应用可以在许多其他容易受到美国洪水危害的沿海社区和全球范围内实施。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准，通过评估被认为是珍贵的支持。