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

该奖项全部或部分由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。洪水继续对墨西哥湾沿岸地区社区的物质、社会和经济福祉构成重大威胁。在发展日益密集、人口不断增长的沿海城市社区，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威胁。传统的结构缓解和保护措施，如防洪屏障和防洪堤，往往需要对建筑物和基础设施进行大量投资，有时会因自然过程中断、保护不足，甚至在灾害事件期间失效而造成意想不到的后果。一个潜在的补充办法是发展绿色基础设施，这已被证明是一项有效的洪水缓解措施，也是建立社区复原力的有效办法。尽管政府努力促进地理标志，但在地方一级，城市居民有时缺乏采用地理标志或在其社区内促进地理标志发展的动力。即使在免费或有奖励的情况下，居民参与GI项目的比例也很低。缺乏对地理标志的接受和采用可能会使沿海社区无法充分利用地理标志提供的一系列服务，并失去建立复原力和保护自己免受未来极端洪水事件影响的机会。本研究旨在通过调查居住在德克萨斯州墨西哥湾沿岸地区的城市居民对地理标志的态度、偏好和行动，更好地了解公众对地理标志的看法。调查研究、多元统计分析、公众参与地理信息系统（PPGIS）和空间分析等方法相结合，对德克萨斯州墨西哥湾沿岸公众对地理标志的看法进行了全面分析。本研究采用新颖的跨学科方法来研究来自德克萨斯州墨西哥湾沿岸几个城市的居民对GI的看法。首先，本研究以保护动机理论为理论框架，探讨影响居民对地理标志实践评价和态度的因素。这些因素包括居民对洪水风险的认知、他们以前的洪水经历、他们对公共防洪的依赖、地理标志实践的有效性和成本，以及他们执行这些行动的感知能力。其次，本研究通过PPGIS进行了在线地图调查，提供了居民对当前城市绿地网络（GI的关键组成部分）的感知和更广泛社区内绿地发展需求的空间细节。PPGIS方法补充了传统的调查技术，扩大了对当地居民如何看待他们的城市绿地和周围社区的理解，并提供了公众对洪水脆弱性的看法与当地规划机构专家意见的一致程度的见解。研究结果可以直接支持地方政府、决策者和城市规划者努力确定更有效的地理标志规划和政策，以满足其居民的需求并鼓励实施。反过来，这项工作有助于社区努力建设减轻未来洪水灾害的能力，从而使墨西哥湾沿岸社区更具复原力。这项工作的应用可以在美国和全世界许多其他易受洪水危害的沿海社区实施。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.