July 2, 2025, Filed Under: Publications, Student AchievementsNew publication in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction Postdoc Koorosh Azizi and PhD students Yuer Wang and Olivia Enriquez co-authored a paper with Dr. Paola Passalacqua, Dr. Dev Niyogi, and Dr. Patrick Bixler examining multi-sectoral perspectives on flood governance in coastal communities. Using thematic analysis and fuzzy cognitive mapping of interviews with 14 government, nonprofit, and industry stakeholders in Texas and Alabama, the study revealed two competing governance frameworks: (1) an equal opportunity view predominantly held by government and industry actors that favors technical infrastructure solutions, and (2) a disparate impact view emphasized by nonprofits that highlights how flooding disproportionately affects marginalized communities due to existing social inequities. Misalignment between these frameworks produces gaps in collaboration and fragmented risk reduction efforts, with government stakeholders prioritizing physical infrastructure improvements while nonprofit organizations focus on social vulnerabilities and community trust-building. These findings suggest that effective coastal resilience requires integrating drainage and structural investments with targeted social programs, fostering purposeful cross-sector dialogue, and developing mechanisms that build local adaptive capacity rather than relying solely on technical solutions.
July 1, 2025, Filed Under: Publications, Student AchievementsNew publication in Environmental Science and Policy. Sandeep Paul, Kayee Zhou, and Patrick Bixler examine how social connections shape heat risk perception across Texas communities. Through a survey of 3,450 urban Texas residents, this study explores three key dimensions of heat risk perception: worry, awareness, and preparedness. The research reveals that stronger social capital, such as neighborhood relationships and community interactions, is associated with heightened awareness of heat-related risks. These findings suggest hyper-local climate adaptation strategies that prioritize relationship-building within communities may prove more effective for preparing residents for our warming climate than top-down approaches alone. Read the paper here.
March 18, 2025, Filed Under: Publications, Student AchievementsMiles Co-authors a Review of Climate Action Plans Master’s student Miles Baker recently co-authored a paper in Climatic Change that conducted a qualitative review of 157 climate action plans in U.S. cities. Read the paper here. This review used qualitative content analysis to understand what sectors received the most focus and what actions cities implement most often, and identified recommendations for future climate planning.
August 1, 2024, Filed Under: PublicationsAssessment of the Resilience Hub Network provided to the City of Austin Patrick and Deidra co-authored a report summarizing the development and implementation of the Resilience Hub network in Austin, and outlined challenges facing the current network and identified future opportunities for expansion Data from the latest Austin Area Sustainability Indicators community survey was included in the report. Findings on who is more or less prepared for emergency events as well as the location of hubs within low or high socially vulnerable areas provides critical context for further expansion of Resilience Hub networks and cooling centers across the city.
January 4, 2022, Filed Under: PublicationsMulti-hazard community resilience New publication in the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction discusses how researchers and city agencies can map multiple climate hazards to understand the disproportionate risks for more socially vulnerable residents. This paper builds upon climate vulnerability maps available at the A2SI website. https://a2si.lbj.utexas.edu/explore-data
August 30, 2021, Filed Under: PublicationsIncreasing Adaptive Capacity for Floods New publication connects neighborhood connections to adaptive capacity to flooding Events like the recent Hurricane Ida and other cyclone activity in the Atlantic and Pacific only remind us that the impacts of flooding to property and well-being are ever present and dangerous. Increasing adaptive capacity to flood events is critical. Especially in socially and economically vulnerable communities. Our research demonstrates the important effect of social capital – the networks, cohesion, and trust – within one’s neighborhood for increasing mitigation behaviors.
