Street network designs play a big role in improving a city’s resilience to disasters, according to a study from Assistant Professor Geoff Boeing.
What he researched: Boeing and his colleague simulated more than 2.4 billion trips across every urban area in the world to measure street network vulnerability to disasters and show how street network design shapes disaster resilience and recovery.
- The findings: Street networks with higher connectivity, fewer chokepoints, and less circuity better allow people and goods to continue moving after a disaster.
- Why it matters: Planners should emphasize these characteristics when designing or retrofitting street networks, so our infrastructure holds up when we need it most.
- In his words: “A sprawling, branching street network is easy to disconnect by knocking out a few key nodes that link neighborhoods together,” Boeing said. “But even otherwise dense, connected Amsterdam, for example, can be easy to disconnect by targeting its chokepoints, like canal bridges.”
Related: A separate study from Boeing showed that more-connected and straighter streets are associated with lower greenhouse gas emissions, while longer street lengths per capita are associated with more emissions.
The study, published in Transportation Research Part A, can be found here.
