Abstract for: Pathways towards Community Resilience: Social Capital and Experience Mitigating the Impacts of Infrastructure Disruptions

Modern American society relies heavily on infrastructure systems, and disruptions of these infrastructure systems have profound societal impacts. At a community scale, infrastructure disruptions can limit the functioning of important resources including healthcare facilities, transportation systems, and businesses. At a household scale, infrastructure disruptions can limit the ability of individuals and households to meet critical needs - simple activities such as safely cooking and storing food, accessing clean water, and staying warm often prove much more difficult in disruption events. This work examines the role of infrastructure as part of an overall system of community resilience to acute emergency events, seeking to clarify the interconnections between infrastructure and other widely-recognized drivers of community resilience, including social capital and knowledge gained through experience. Using the ability of households to meet important needs as a proxy for community resilience, it offers insight into the ways in which interconnections between different components of community resilience serve to enhance overall system resilience.