Abstract

Risk management has developed as an important aspect of sustainability. In order to manage risk more effectively, an overall evaluation of regional resilience needs to be performed. Therefore, this paper develops a framework to measure overall resilience in a community, focusing on risk perceptions of citizens of Suita City, Japan. The framework includes three main phases: (1) identifying multiple risks in the city through discussions with local experts and city workers; (2) prioritizing those risks by applying principal component analysis (PCA); and (3) understanding the relationships among them using decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) analysis. As a result, 21 risks were identified, and subsequently, four risks were prioritized: climate change, lack of self-sufficient energy, damage to the ecosystem, and natural disasters. Lastly, the application of DEMATEL analysis revealed that climate change and natural disasters have the greatest cause-effect relationships among the risks. The framework proves that multiple risks can be prioritized and gives overall suggestions on what kinds of risk a community is facing; where to start considering how to manage resilience; and which functions/services a community should improve to boost resilience. The identification, prioritization, and visualization of significant risk relationships completed in this study can support decision-making processes in strengthening community resilience.

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