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Decision support for infrastructure planning: a comprehensive location–allocation model for fire station in complex urban system

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Abstract

Infrastructures are the most important aspect of any urban system. Properly planned infrastructures are critical for ensuring services and protecting an urban system from disasters. The fire resilience of an urban system depends on the number and location of it’s fire stations. To support urban resilience through properly planned critical infrastructures, this research attempted to develop a decision support model to solve the location–allocation problem of fire stations in complex urban settings. The developed model combined geographical information system, multi-criteria analysis, and set cover algorithm to utilize global knowledge and local experience. The findings of the research found aligned with other observations. Results revealed that systematic planning can significantly increase the level of outputs from the same input and absorb local constraints with minimum compromise in development goals. The importance of expert opinion in decision making was found very critical. Integration of science and local experience, and involvement of practitioners, decision makers, and scholars could significantly increase the problem solving of the complex world.

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  1. Disaster Preparedness, Mitigation and Management (DPMM), Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand

    Md Shahab Uddin

  2. Structural Engineering, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand

    Pennung Warnitchai

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Uddin, M.S., Warnitchai, P. Decision support for infrastructure planning: a comprehensive location–allocation model for fire station in complex urban system. Nat Hazards 102, 1475–1496 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-020-03981-2

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