Enhancing the resilience of low-income housing using emerging digital technologies

Abstract

The research discussed is part of a Belmont Forum disaster risk reduction project aimed at enhancing the resilience of low-income housing. This paper examines feasibility and viability of using emerging digital technologies to enhance the resilience of low-income housing based on requirements of resource constrained, low-lying coastal areas in East Africa. The authors focus on the need to facilitate data and knowledge sharing across domains to: 1) reduce or avoid the potential property loss from flooding events through mapping the interdependencies and interconnectedness across natural and human systems; 2) coordinate the provision of temporary shelter for displaced victims, and 3) building (back) better during the recovery phase. The deployment of Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, BIM, Digital twin, VR/AR in disaster risk management is still an emerging area of research. In general, cutting-edge digital technologies are deployed as standalone solutions to address existing data and knowledge sharing needs that are unique to a sub-group of stakeholders. A more holistic and comprehensive solution will require an integrative framework that supports the seamless flow of information across the stakeholders. We propose to address this need through an artificial intelligence enhanced data, information and knowledge sharing platform that synthesizes content into actionable insights