Coastal infrastructure vulnerability: an integrated assessment model

The significance of coastal regions to the infrastructure and the need to protect such assets are crucial to the economy of countries. Therefore, there is a real need to enhance the understanding of coastal infrastructure susceptibility as well as to develop methodologies to estimate vulnerability. A review of the literature regarding coastal vulnerability reveals that the focus has been on geomorphological and physical parameters but not infrastructure and the associated fiscal factors. In order to address this knowledge gap, an innovative model is developed, i.e., the Coastal Infrastructure Vulnerability Index (CIVI). Then the model is applied to the case of the Aberystwyth coast demonstrating how the model estimates the vulnerability of the coastal infrastructure (comprising population, commercial and residential properties). Subsequently, the CIVI scores were used to rank coastal sections into five classes, ranging from extremely low to extremely high, based on the relative magnitude of the vulnerability. The rankings for each parameter were combined, and then an index value was calculated. Results revealed that Aberystwyth contains more than £40 billion of coastal infrastructure vulnerability and more than 10,000 inhabitants are at the high coastal risk posed by flooding, erosion, storm surges, and strong winds.