Research program

This project evaluates post-disaster management cases in four cities in Ecuador, Portoviejo, Bahia de Caraquez, Manta and Pedernales, to create new bottom-up community-led frameworks for infrastructures development. It utilises innovative virtual reality scenarios to capture non-technical people responses to different built environments, and evaluate their practical implementation, considering indigenous construction practices as well as social and cultural preferences. The level of acceptance of such solutions is paramount for long-term vulnerability reduction and the well-being of survivors (UN Sustainable Development Goal 3). This research seeks to transform how post-disaster infrastructure is conceived, following a multi-disciplinary approach combining social and computer sciences with architecture and materials engineering.

Objectives

OBJ1. Critical policy analysis of post-disaster reconstruction strategies in Ecuador, emphasising technologies, materials and social dynamics employed in post-disaster development of housing and community centres

OBJ2. Co-develop with survivors from three cities in Ecuador new reconstruction strategies for long-term wellbeing through bottom-up community led initiatives

OBJ3. Create virtual reality scenarios of new post-disaster solutions for housing and community centres to determine the feasibility of its implementation, and level of local acceptance, compared with existing post-disaster infrastructure solutions