Special Section on Community Resilience to Disruptive Events: Models and Analyses, Lessons Learned and Case Studies

Abstract

The resilience of a community depends on the performance of the built environment (e.g., building portfolios and infrastructure systems) as well as the functionality of its constituting social and economic institutions. Communities are expected to be resilient to disruptive events. That is, they should possess the ability of limited disruption, immediate response, and quick recovery [1,2]. Remarkably, the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic [3] has resulted in a significant public health emergency around the world, raising unprecedented challenges to the modern communities. Furthermore, in recent years, other types of disruptive events, such as earthquakes, tropical cyclones, floods, and wildfires, have threatened communities globally with dramatic consequences. With respect to this, the society and the public are asking justified questions such as the following: How resilient is our community to disruptive events? How can we use resilience approaches to counteract disruptive events? What lessons can we learn from real-world practices to enhance the resilience of our community?