Reimagining Resilience: Leveraging Generative AI for Long-Term Disaster Recovery

Thursday, July 17, 10:15 to 11:45 a.m. MDT
Location: Centennial E

Reimagining Resilience: Leveraging Generative AI for Long-Term Disaster Recovery

Yan Wang, University of Florida
Karla Saldaña Ochoa, University of Florida
Jason von Meding, University of Florida
Jeff Carney, University of Florida

Long-term disaster recovery, particularly involving major redevelopment, is resource-intensive and time-consuming, compounded by competing responsibilities for designers and planners. Although critical to rebuilding infrastructural, social, and economic systems, current research often focuses mainly on infrastructure and housing, potentially neglecting crucial systematic spatial design and planning necessary for building back better. Existing design and planning methods lag behind empirical and theoretical advancements in resilience, possibly leading to ad-hoc efforts that inadequately balance socioeconomic and environmental objectives, often skewed by capital interests and resulting in maladaptation and inefficient fund allocation. The rise of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) technologies offers promising new tools for computational design and spatial planning, aligning stakeholder expectations by visualizing ideas and providing targeted disaster response recommendations. This technology could significantly enhance the management of spatial design complexities that traditional methods struggle with.

This roundtable explores the integration of GenAI in disaster recovery and resilience planning through the following key discussion questions:

  1. What are the socio-technical barriers to developing and integrating GenAI into the disaster recovery process?
  2. Who can benefit from using GenAI in disaster recovery design and planning, and what are the specific opportunities and advantages?
  3. How can the concerns regarding the responsible deployment and development of GenAI be addressed?
  4. What would an AI governance framework look like for deploying GenAI in the design and planning process in disaster recovery?

We will engage multi-disciplinary experts to facilitate discussions, alongside demos, live polling, and a Q&A session to enrich the discourse.