What incentivized U.S. seaports to be resilient to natural hazards? How is port decision-making incentivized to implement resilience? With converging pressures from socioeconomic growth and episodic and long-term impacts of climate change, ports face increasing market demands and increasing vulnerability to natural hazards. Methods for incentivizing resilience investments in basic economies have been documented as an area of opportunity, but incentivizing port resilience to natural hazards is understudied.

Regulators typically use traditional incentives to increase participation in programs that serve a public good. Normally occurring incentives also manifest outside of regulation in perfect markets. Both methods of incentivizing resilience to decision-makers can increase natural hazard resilience in port, such as investing in infrastructure longevity and supporting environmental justice. How port decision-makers react to command-and-control incentives or direct economic benefits is key to implementing efficient and equitable port resilience to natural hazards in the face of climate change.

This project builds on work at the University of Rhode Island to understand the interventions for resilience and the perceptions of resilience in critical infrastructure management. Interviews and surveys of representatives from 21 principal U.S. ports will document and measure the reactions of port decision-makers to incentives by presenting participants with theoretically incentivized situations that require decision-making. The questions will incorporate economic and cultural dimensions of natural hazard resilience, including social and environmental justice notions. The research will aggregate and analyze mixed-methods data by coding with thematic analysis and weighted Likert scales.

Findings from this research will suggest how to integrate vetted incentives into port planning (e.g., infrastructure improvement grants, bond issues for port resilience, and recognition awards). It will contribute to understanding the benefits of incentives for port planning and ethical considerations of using incentives. It will build a sense of how port decision-makers perceive available incentives. This research will also help port management, designated planners, and port communities connect the needs, perceptions, justice, costs, and benefits of port resilience to natural hazards and planning for climate change’s impacts.

Lead Researcher: Rosemarie Fusco, PhD Candidatre

Principal Investigator: Dr. Austin Becker, Department of Marine Affairs, abecker@uri.edu