Construction of Urban Infrastructure Resilience Evaluation Index System and Application of Multi-criteria Decision-making Model

Abstract

The rising level of potential threats to urban infrastructure due to more frequent phenomena of extreme weather events, rapid urbanization, and complex interconnect of critical infrastructure elements has demanded a more extensive effort to be put towards assessing this resilience. To address this increasing need for a more scientific assessment of resilience, this research presents a composite indicator approach along with a multi-criteria analysis model combining Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Technique for Order Preference and Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). After a thorough literature examination and expert consultation, six major criteria and eighteen elementary factors are used for a comprehensive assessment of infrastructure resilience. The results are tested for the city of Wuhan in China using a statistical model. Analysis points out that a relatively strong level of resilience in regard to transportation and power infrastructure exists in Wuhan but with vulnerable Information & Communication Technology infrastructure, Emergency Response Services infrastructure, and Water Supply infrastructure because of factors such as oldness of infrastructure, inhomogeneous population coverage levels, and strong environmental dependencies.