Wesley E Highfield
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 1405404 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Wesley E Highfield |
| NOMBRES | Wesley E |
| APELLIDO | Highfield |
| FIRMA | HIGHFIELD W E |
| AFILIACIONES | Texas A&M University at Galveston |
| VERIFICADO | No |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 19 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 67 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 19 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2004 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2025 |
| ÍNDICE H | 6 |
The Influence of Scale in Modeling Social Vulnerability and Disaster Assistance
Knowledge-Informed Data-Driven Modeling of Coupled Human-Built–Natural Systems
Debris is one of the most challenging cascading effects posed by hurricane events, causing large financial and logistical burdens to coastal communities. Moreover, disaster debris can have cascading consequences on the safety and functionality of infrastructure, inhibit community recovery efforts, and lead to public health concerns. However, existing debris predictive models have shown an unsatisfactory performance, with errors up to 50% in debri…
Correlates of flood hazard adjustment adoption in four coastal communities
Mapping cross-scale economic impacts of storm surge events
Cartographic display of cross-scale phenomena and user-centered design are considered through a discussion of the development of an interactive web map depicting local-to-national economic impacts of hurricane storm surge events in Galveston Bay, Texas. Map development and design (as informed by stakeholder focus groups) is described, including approaches to presenting complex, cross-scale impacts of surge events across multiple years and scenari…
Strategic property buyouts to enhance flood resilience
The impact of recent flood events, such as hurricane Harvey in 2017 which affected the upper Texas coastal region, has sparked new proposals for buying out damaged properties to reduce flood risk and return them to natural open space. Traditionally, buyouts have been carried out with little regard for non-monetary benefits, such as ecological and aesthetic values, but have been driven by a cost–benefit calculus that leads to a reactionary, ad hoc…
Valuing floodplain protection and avoidance in a coastal watershed
Flood-related losses in the United States are increasing despite large-scale mitigation efforts. To offset the rising cost of floods, the US Congress passed legislation in 2014 that will augment insurance premiums to make the National Flood Insurance Program more actuarially sound. Consequently, there is interest in lowering flood-related costs to the homeowner, both in terms of premiums and damage. This study addresses the issue by integrating p…
Examining the relationship between development patterns and total phosphorus in the Galveston Bay Estuary
Household adjustment to flood risk
Individual households have increasingly borne responsibility for reducing the adverse impacts of flooding on their property. Little observational research has been conducted, however, at the household level to examine the major factors contributing to the selection of a particular household adjustment. This study addresses the issue by evaluating statistically the factors influencing the adoption of various household flood hazard adjustments. The…
Understanding the motivations of coastal residents to voluntarily purchase federal flood insurance
Federally-backed flood insurance is the primary mechanism by which residents in the United States (US) prepare for and recover from floods. While there is a growing literature on the general uptake of flood insurance, little work has been done to address the factors motivating residents to voluntarily buy and maintain federally-based insurance policies. We address this issue by conducting a survey of coastal residents in four localities in Texas …
Inequities in Long-Term Housing Recovery After Disasters
Problem, research strategy, and findings: Disaster impacts result from interactions between hazard exposure, physical vulnerability, and social vulnerability. We report empirical work from 1992′s Hurricane Andrew in Miami-Dade (FL) and 2008′s Hurricane Ike in Galveston (TX) to assess long-term trends in housing recovery. Longitudinal, parcel-level data on housing units along with neighborhood sociodemographic data permit analysis of the pace of r…
Mitigation Planning
Increasing interest in fostering resilient communities requires a more comprehensive approach to hazard mitigation planning that overcomes the limitations of traditional hazard assessments, notably the failure to explicitly incorporate an analysis of social vulnerability. We statistically analyzed a random sample of 1500 damage assessments of single-family homes collected following Hurricane Ike to assess the contributions of hazard exposure, str…
Open space protection and flood mitigation
Mapping social vulnerability to enhance housing and neighborhood resilience
Social factors influence the ability of coastal communities and their populations to anticipate, respond, resist, and recover from disasters. Galveston, TX, offers aunique opportunity to test the efficacy of social vulnerability mapping to identify inequalities in the ways that different parts of the community may react to a disaster. We describe spatial patterns of social vulnerability prior to 2008's Hurricane Ike and compare them to outcomes r…
Examining the Influence of Development Patterns on Flood Damages along the Gulf of Mexico
The rising cost of floods is increasingly attributed to the pattern and form of the built environment. Our study empirically tests this notion by examining the relationship between development intensity and property damage caused by floods. We examine five years of insured flood loss claims across 144 counties and parishes fringing the Gulf of Mexico. Results indicate that clustered, high-intensity development patterns significantly reduce amount…
Modeling national flood insurance policy holding at the county scale in Florida, 1999–2005
Identifying the impact of the built environment on flood damage in Texas
Floods continue to pose the greatest threat to the property and safety of human communities among all natural hazards in the United States. This study examines the relationship between the built environment and flood impacts in Texas, which consistently sustains the most damage from flooding of any other state in the country. Specifically, we calculate property damage resulting from 423 flood events between 1997 and 2001 at the county level. We i…
Measuring the Adoption of Local Sprawl
While sprawling growth patterns have become a major issue for planners and environmental managers, little empirical research has been conducted on the adoption of sprawl-reduction policies in local plans. The authors systematically evaluate the comprehensive plans of fortysix local jurisdictions in southern Florida for the presence of five sprawl-reduction planning policies (SRPPs) using planevaluation techniques. Results indicate a clear statist…
Does Planning Work?
The lack of empirical studies measuring the efficacy of plans and degree of local plan implementation subsequent to adoption represents one of the greatest gaps in planning research. This article addresses the need to test the effectiveness of environmental planning and plan implementation by examining the spatial pattern of wetland development permits over a io-year period in Florida. Specifically, our study compares the original land use design…
Examining Localized Patterns of Air Quality Perception in Texas
Environmental and human health issues associated with outdoor air pollution, such as ozone, sulfur dioxide, and other pollutants in metropolitan regions, are an area of growing concern for both policy officials and the general public. Increasing attention from the news media, new health data, and public debate over the effectiveness of clean air regulations have raised the importance of air quality in the public consciousness. While public percep…
Mitigation Planning
Increasing interest in fostering resilient communities requires a more comprehensive approach to hazard mitigation planning that overcomes the limitations of traditional hazard assessments, notably the failure to explicitly incorporate an analysis of social vulnerability. We statistically analyzed a random sample of 1500 damage assessments of single-family homes collected following Hurricane Ike to assess the contributions of hazard exposure, str…
Measuring the Adoption of Local Sprawl
While sprawling growth patterns have become a major issue for planners and environmental managers, little empirical research has been conducted on the adoption of sprawl-reduction policies in local plans. The authors systematically evaluate the comprehensive plans of fortysix local jurisdictions in southern Florida for the presence of five sprawl-reduction planning policies (SRPPs) using planevaluation techniques. Results indicate a clear statist…
Identifying the impact of the built environment on flood damage in Texas
Floods continue to pose the greatest threat to the property and safety of human communities among all natural hazards in the United States. This study examines the relationship between the built environment and flood impacts in Texas, which consistently sustains the most damage from flooding of any other state in the country. Specifically, we calculate property damage resulting from 423 flood events between 1997 and 2001 at the county level. We i…
Understanding the motivations of coastal residents to voluntarily purchase federal flood insurance
Federally-backed flood insurance is the primary mechanism by which residents in the United States (US) prepare for and recover from floods. While there is a growing literature on the general uptake of flood insurance, little work has been done to address the factors motivating residents to voluntarily buy and maintain federally-based insurance policies. We address this issue by conducting a survey of coastal residents in four localities in Texas …
Examining the Influence of Development Patterns on Flood Damages along the Gulf of Mexico
The rising cost of floods is increasingly attributed to the pattern and form of the built environment. Our study empirically tests this notion by examining the relationship between development intensity and property damage caused by floods. We examine five years of insured flood loss claims across 144 counties and parishes fringing the Gulf of Mexico. Results indicate that clustered, high-intensity development patterns significantly reduce amount…
Household adjustment to flood risk
Individual households have increasingly borne responsibility for reducing the adverse impacts of flooding on their property. Little observational research has been conducted, however, at the household level to examine the major factors contributing to the selection of a particular household adjustment. This study addresses the issue by evaluating statistically the factors influencing the adoption of various household flood hazard adjustments. The…
Strategic property buyouts to enhance flood resilience
The impact of recent flood events, such as hurricane Harvey in 2017 which affected the upper Texas coastal region, has sparked new proposals for buying out damaged properties to reduce flood risk and return them to natural open space. Traditionally, buyouts have been carried out with little regard for non-monetary benefits, such as ecological and aesthetic values, but have been driven by a cost–benefit calculus that leads to a reactionary, ad hoc…
Open space protection and flood mitigation
Valuing floodplain protection and avoidance in a coastal watershed
Flood-related losses in the United States are increasing despite large-scale mitigation efforts. To offset the rising cost of floods, the US Congress passed legislation in 2014 that will augment insurance premiums to make the National Flood Insurance Program more actuarially sound. Consequently, there is interest in lowering flood-related costs to the homeowner, both in terms of premiums and damage. This study addresses the issue by integrating p…
Examining Localized Patterns of Air Quality Perception in Texas
Environmental and human health issues associated with outdoor air pollution, such as ozone, sulfur dioxide, and other pollutants in metropolitan regions, are an area of growing concern for both policy officials and the general public. Increasing attention from the news media, new health data, and public debate over the effectiveness of clean air regulations have raised the importance of air quality in the public consciousness. While public percep…
Does Planning Work?
The lack of empirical studies measuring the efficacy of plans and degree of local plan implementation subsequent to adoption represents one of the greatest gaps in planning research. This article addresses the need to test the effectiveness of environmental planning and plan implementation by examining the spatial pattern of wetland development permits over a io-year period in Florida. Specifically, our study compares the original land use design…
Measuring the Adoption of Local Sprawl
While sprawling growth patterns have become a major issue for planners and environmental managers, little empirical research has been conducted on the adoption of sprawl-reduction policies in local plans. The authors systematically evaluate the comprehensive plans of fortysix local jurisdictions in southern Florida for the presence of five sprawl-reduction planning policies (SRPPs) using planevaluation techniques. Results indicate a clear statist…
Identifying the impact of the built environment on flood damage in Texas
Floods continue to pose the greatest threat to the property and safety of human communities among all natural hazards in the United States. This study examines the relationship between the built environment and flood impacts in Texas, which consistently sustains the most damage from flooding of any other state in the country. Specifically, we calculate property damage resulting from 423 flood events between 1997 and 2001 at the county level. We i…
Modeling national flood insurance policy holding at the county scale in Florida, 1999–2005
Examining the Influence of Development Patterns on Flood Damages along the Gulf of Mexico
The rising cost of floods is increasingly attributed to the pattern and form of the built environment. Our study empirically tests this notion by examining the relationship between development intensity and property damage caused by floods. We examine five years of insured flood loss claims across 144 counties and parishes fringing the Gulf of Mexico. Results indicate that clustered, high-intensity development patterns significantly reduce amount…
Mapping social vulnerability to enhance housing and neighborhood resilience
Social factors influence the ability of coastal communities and their populations to anticipate, respond, resist, and recover from disasters. Galveston, TX, offers aunique opportunity to test the efficacy of social vulnerability mapping to identify inequalities in the ways that different parts of the community may react to a disaster. We describe spatial patterns of social vulnerability prior to 2008's Hurricane Ike and compare them to outcomes r…
Open space protection and flood mitigation
Inequities in Long-Term Housing Recovery After Disasters
Problem, research strategy, and findings: Disaster impacts result from interactions between hazard exposure, physical vulnerability, and social vulnerability. We report empirical work from 1992′s Hurricane Andrew in Miami-Dade (FL) and 2008′s Hurricane Ike in Galveston (TX) to assess long-term trends in housing recovery. Longitudinal, parcel-level data on housing units along with neighborhood sociodemographic data permit analysis of the pace of r…
Mitigation Planning
Increasing interest in fostering resilient communities requires a more comprehensive approach to hazard mitigation planning that overcomes the limitations of traditional hazard assessments, notably the failure to explicitly incorporate an analysis of social vulnerability. We statistically analyzed a random sample of 1500 damage assessments of single-family homes collected following Hurricane Ike to assess the contributions of hazard exposure, str…
Understanding the motivations of coastal residents to voluntarily purchase federal flood insurance
Federally-backed flood insurance is the primary mechanism by which residents in the United States (US) prepare for and recover from floods. While there is a growing literature on the general uptake of flood insurance, little work has been done to address the factors motivating residents to voluntarily buy and maintain federally-based insurance policies. We address this issue by conducting a survey of coastal residents in four localities in Texas …
Household adjustment to flood risk
Individual households have increasingly borne responsibility for reducing the adverse impacts of flooding on their property. Little observational research has been conducted, however, at the household level to examine the major factors contributing to the selection of a particular household adjustment. This study addresses the issue by evaluating statistically the factors influencing the adoption of various household flood hazard adjustments. The…
Examining the relationship between development patterns and total phosphorus in the Galveston Bay Estuary
Valuing floodplain protection and avoidance in a coastal watershed
Flood-related losses in the United States are increasing despite large-scale mitigation efforts. To offset the rising cost of floods, the US Congress passed legislation in 2014 that will augment insurance premiums to make the National Flood Insurance Program more actuarially sound. Consequently, there is interest in lowering flood-related costs to the homeowner, both in terms of premiums and damage. This study addresses the issue by integrating p…
Strategic property buyouts to enhance flood resilience
The impact of recent flood events, such as hurricane Harvey in 2017 which affected the upper Texas coastal region, has sparked new proposals for buying out damaged properties to reduce flood risk and return them to natural open space. Traditionally, buyouts have been carried out with little regard for non-monetary benefits, such as ecological and aesthetic values, but have been driven by a cost–benefit calculus that leads to a reactionary, ad hoc…
Mapping cross-scale economic impacts of storm surge events
Cartographic display of cross-scale phenomena and user-centered design are considered through a discussion of the development of an interactive web map depicting local-to-national economic impacts of hurricane storm surge events in Galveston Bay, Texas. Map development and design (as informed by stakeholder focus groups) is described, including approaches to presenting complex, cross-scale impacts of surge events across multiple years and scenari…
Correlates of flood hazard adjustment adoption in four coastal communities
Knowledge-Informed Data-Driven Modeling of Coupled Human-Built–Natural Systems
Debris is one of the most challenging cascading effects posed by hurricane events, causing large financial and logistical burdens to coastal communities. Moreover, disaster debris can have cascading consequences on the safety and functionality of infrastructure, inhibit community recovery efforts, and lead to public health concerns. However, existing debris predictive models have shown an unsatisfactory performance, with errors up to 50% in debri…
The Influence of Scale in Modeling Social Vulnerability and Disaster Assistance
Geography (15 obras) · Flood Risk Assessment and Management (14 obras) · Business (12 obras) · Environmental planning (12 obras) · Environmental resource management (12 obras) · Environmental Science (12 obras) · Disaster Management and Resilience (9 obras) · Flood myth (9 obras) · Computer Science (8 obras) · Economics (7 obras)