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Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research

Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research

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Improving climate resilience of urban road infrastructure in Southeast Asia

Road infrastructure plays an important role in overall national socio-economic development. Climate change poses an increasing risk to urban roads, and municipal authorities lack the know-how in assessing loss and damage that may arise from flood events and in the selection of relevant adaptation options. This paper determines climate change adaptation measures and strategies for improving climate resilience of urban road infrastructure in Southeast Asia. A spatial assessment methodology using NK-GIAS software is designed to assess loss and damage of urban roads related to flooding in three cities of Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. Multi-Criteria Analysis was used to assess adaptation measures. Economic costs related to different flood scenarios were estimated for each of the selected cities. Road networks were found to be at particular risk from flood events. Under the most extreme flood scenario, maximum road damage was estimated at 3 million USD for Kampot, 20 million USD for Hoi An and 21 million USD for Samut Sakhon. It is proposed that the spatial analyses could be improved in future work through the development of damage curves to address both the duration and depth of flooding.