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。在城市沿海社区，开发密度越来越高，人口不断增长，越来越多的人，基础设施和财产面临着长期破坏性洪水事件的风险。传统的结构性减灾和保护措施，如防洪屏障和堤坝，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中失灵而造成意想不到的后果。一个潜在的补充方法是发展绿色基础设施，这已被证明是一种有效的防洪措施，也是建设社区复原力的有效方法。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为社区内地理标志的发展做出贡献的动力。即使在免费提供地理标志或提供奖励的情况下，居民对地理标志项目的参与率也很低。缺乏对地理信息系统的接受和采用可能会阻止沿海社区充分利用地理信息系统提供的一系列服务，并错过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。本研究的目的是更好地了解公众对GI的看法，通过检查的态度，偏好和行动有关的GI的居民生活在得克萨斯州墨西哥湾沿岸地区的城市。调查研究，多元统计分析，公众参与地理信息系统（PPGIS），空间分析等方法的组合提供了一个全面的分析公众对GI在得克萨斯州墨西哥湾沿岸。本研究采用新颖的跨学科方法，从几个得克萨斯州墨西哥湾沿岸城市的居民对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资讯服务的评价与态度的因素。这些因素包括居民对洪水风险的看法，他们以前的洪水经验，他们对公共防洪的依赖，GI做法的效率和成本，以及他们认为执行这些行动的能力。其次，本研究通过PPGIS进行了基于地图的在线调查，PPGIS提供了关于居民对当前城市绿色空间网络（GI的关键组成部分）的感知以及更广泛社区内绿色空间发展需求的空间细节。PPGIS方法补充了传统的调查技术，以扩大了解当地居民如何看待他们的城市绿色空间和周围社区，除了提供洞察公众的看法，洪水脆弱性的程度与专家意见的地方规划机构。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能力，以减轻未来的洪水灾害，从而提高墨西哥湾沿岸社区的抗灾能力。这项工作的应用可以在美国和世界各地许多易受洪水危害的其他沿海社区实施。该奖项反映了NSF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.