Integrating human capabilities into flood vulnerability assessments for transport systems

Source abstract

Traditional approaches to evaluating transport network vulnerability primarily focus on technical performance metrics or economic costs, often overlooking the societal and human impacts of disruptions. This paper addresses this gap by proposing a novel framework that integrates the Capability Approach (CA) into flood-vulnerability assessment of transport networks, thus linking individuals’ real freedoms to pursue valued life outcomes. A metric, Capability-Link-Dependency is used to quantify how transport disruptions can potentially constrain individual capabilities to access essential services such as healthcare, food, education and emergency services. A case study in Fingal County, Ireland, demonstrates how communities may experience severe accessibility losses even when located outside flood zones. The findings highlight that vulnerability assessments should incorporate wellbeing to ensure equitable resilience planning. This approach identifies both critical links and socially vulnerable populations and provides a transferable framework that can be expanded to other hazards and geographic contexts.