Resilience Hubs for UBC Campus Communities (2024-2026)

Overview: This project investigates the various system capabilities of the water supply on campus that contribute to resilient performance, which we aim to quantify. This includes not only fail-safe capabilities, such as strengthened pipes and redundancy in the system, but also safe-fail capabilities, such as emergency supply options. 

Current progress: A framework has been developed for quantifying resilient performance. The next step is to model the broader water system, so that performance can be simulated and resilience quantified.  

Overview: We will look at providing some measures to identify and assess which parts of the UBC transportation network are most critical and/or vulnerable. 

Current progress: We are currently assessing modelling tools and data, and continuing a literature review of metrics and methods of analysis. 

Overview: We seek to understand existing knowledge around hazards and risk reduction amongst different demographics within our campus community. 

Current progress: Developing survey for campus community in relation to completed City of Vancouver survey, intending to launch in early Term 2 (mid-January) 

Overview: Advance emergency support services with Musqueam partners.  

Current progress: 

UBC sits at the extreme end of the spectrum of institutional autonomy, enjoying almost unprecedented levels of autonomy in its governance. Operating as a quasi-municipality with high levels of independence brings risks as well as benefits. In disaster contexts – where many forms of risk minimization are premised on relationships with and dependencies on other institutions – the autonomy the UBC enjoys could become a challenge as it is forced to take on prevention, response and recovery alone. While unique in Canada, UBC shares much in common with the many US universities which operate as unincorporated municipalities. To better understand how UBC – and the wider range of institutions that struggle with balancing autonomy and dependence in their modes of governance – this sub-project will conduct interviews with 20 US universities that have adopted different strategies for maintaining autonomy while minimizing disaster-related risks. These strategies could include institutional and physical responses and may involve various forms of resilience hub arrangements. The lessons from these cases will be valuable to UBC and other institutions that grapple with how to maintain their autonomy in the face of growing risks, most of which typically require some degree of dependence on other actors and institutions. 

Current progress: A research plan has been developed and is being finalized for ethics approval at UBC. The plan will involve interviewing relevant individuals working on risk management at approximately 20 universities in the US, selected across a variety of university types (research status, population size, public/private). All the universities operate as unincorporated, quasi-municipalities. The universities are also being selected to represent a variety of hazard profiles, being sure to identify those that face a variety of scales of types of risks (from wildfires and hurricanes to earthquakes). Two universities will also be interviewed which represent extreme responses to managing the tension between autonomy and dependence, one that opted to become its own incorporated city and another that opted for incorporation into an existing city. 

Overview: Develop governance and coordination models for local emergency and disaster governance structure for 2050 to support resilience hubs and that prioritize cooperation and collaboration with Musqueam First Nation in line with UNDRIP. (e.g. multi-jurisdictional emergency management organization.) 

Current progress: Beginning legal analysis of new Emergency and Disaster Management Act and UBC’s legislative obligations and possibilities within the provincial legislation. 

Overview: An assessment and plan for applying research results to operational decision-making in campus emergency planning. 

Current progress: Activity is scheduled for year 3. 

Overview: A plan for leveraging project outcomes to address the more complex challenges of planning for earthquake resilience. 

Current progress: Activity is scheduled for year 3.