Interdisciplinary perspectives on the intersections of roads, sustainable development, and disaster resilience

Robson, Ellen B.; McGowran, Peter; Ruszczyk, Hanna A.; Malamud, Bruce D.; Simpson, Edward; Densmore, Alexander L.; Denton, Neil; Chapplow, Natasha; Gurung, Phurwa; Hall, Tilly E.; Harries, Rebekah; Jenkins, Jack; KC, Apil; Kotter, Richard; Kumar, Ashutosh; Limbu, Bina; Milledge, David; Porter, Gina; Rosser, Nick; Taylor, Faith E.; Toll, David G.; Winter, Mike G.; Woldearegay, Kifle

Abstract

Natural hazard-influenced disasters, sustainable development, and roads are closely intertwined. Governments and funding agencies worldwide are increasingly focused on delivering disaster-resilient road infrastructure. However, the multifaceted, ubiquitous, and contested nature of road networks means that making them resilient to disasters is a complex task. Efforts to build resilient roads generate trade-offs against other policy goals like climate resilience and sustainable development and always carry political implications. In this paper, we synthesise discussions that took place during a one-day hybrid workshop with 50 practitioners, policymakers, and physical and social scientists with expertise in roads, development and disaster resilience to explore the intersections between roads, development and disaster resilience. Two key themes emerge: (i) the political ecology of the resilience of road networks and (ii) the key players and politics surrounding road construction and maintenance. We go on to present working definitions of disaster resilience for these two themes to help shape future interdisciplinary research on road disaster resilience: (i) Through political ecology, road disaster resilience is understood within the context of uneven power dynamics and the political work done by applying a resilience lens to the research objects in question; and (ii) through key players and politics, road disaster resilience can be achieved through the effective management and coordination of financers, knowledge holders, and those with ownership over the road. In synthesising key themes, we ultimately develop the concept of “roads-in-relation” as a framing device that crosscuts these key themes for future interdisciplinary 42 road disaster resilience research

Citation

Robson, E. B., McGowran, P., Ruszczyk, H. A., Malamud, B. D., Simpson, E., Densmore, A. L., Denton, N., Chapplow, N., Gurung, P., Hall, T. E., Harries, R., Jenkins, J., KC, A., Kotter, R., Kumar, A., Limbu, B., Milledge, D., Porter, G., Rosser, N., Taylor, F. E., …Woldearegay, K. (in press). Interdisciplinary perspectives on the intersections of roads, sustainable development, and disaster resilience. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2025.105691

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 7, 2025
• Deposit Date: Jul 7, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 11, 2025
• Journal: International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
• Print ISSN: 2212-4209
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2025.105691
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4255292