Advancing Social Vulnerability Modeling for Equitable Flood Adaptation

 

Eric Tate, professor of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, presented “Advancing Social Vulnerability Modeling for Equitable Flood Adaptation.” Tate is the second speaker in the fall 2025 HMEI Faculty Seminar Series.

Reducing disaster inequity has become a central focus in flood adaptation efforts. Social vulnerability indicators are widely used to support this goal, but persistent challenges have hindered their evolution from generalized to context-specific metrics. A key limitation is a weak understanding of which characteristics of vulnerable populations are most relevant across different hazards, geographic settings, and scales of analysis—from local to global. This talk profiles research pathways to address these challenges, toward developing a new generation of social vulnerability indicators tailored to specific use cases in flood adaptation modeling, planning, and policy.

Advancing Social Vulnerability Modeling for Equitable Flood Adaptation

Publish Date

October 7, 2025

Presenter(s)

Eric Tate

Link to Video

https://youtu.be/JtbyF_X5d1s

Video Length

58:51

 

Eric Tate, professor of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, presented “Advancing Social Vulnerability Modeling for Equitable Flood Adaptation.” Tate is the second speaker in the fall 2025 HMEI Faculty Seminar Series.

Reducing disaster inequity has become a central focus in flood adaptation efforts. Social vulnerability indicators are widely used to support this goal, but persistent challenges have hindered their evolution from generalized to context-specific metrics. A key limitation is a weak understanding of which characteristics of vulnerable populations are most relevant across different hazards, geographic settings, and scales of analysis—from local to global. This talk profiles research pathways to address these challenges, toward developing a new generation of social vulnerability indicators tailored to specific use cases in flood adaptation modeling, planning, and policy.