Multi-dimensional analysis of cities and communities across the U.S. from the perspective of sustainability, climate change, and resiliency planning and management

Associate Professor of Teaching

Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering

University at Buffalo

Cities and communities across the United States design and implement sustainability, climate change, and resiliency plans to address the existing and upcoming environmental, economic, social, and cultural challenges and threats. The strategies, policies, objectives, goals, and other key elements included in the plans are often defined by characteristics such as climate, the presence of bodies of water, and population size. U.S. cities and communities can be grouped using these characteristics to analyze common characteristics.

On the other hand, an analysis can be performed beyond the sub-groups formed using characteristics such as climate zones, the presence of bodies of water, and population size. The analysis of the plans designed and implemented by cities and communities across the U.S. led to the development of the preparedness index and scale and the proposal of the sustainability, climate change, and resiliency dictionary.

Similarly, common characteristics among groups and population centers allowed the identification of a series of patterns. Organizing the population centers’ performance by climate zone, population size, and impact of bodies of water characterization, or a combination of those factors, revealed well-defined performance patterns of the population centers included in the study.

Finally, three case studies analyze the use of indicators to assess progress toward achieving the predetermined sustainability, climate change, and resiliency goals and objectives.

Cesar A. Poveda, a Colombian/Canadian licensed professional engineer. Dr. Cesar Poveda graduated from the civil engineering department at the Universidad Industrial de Santander in 1998. He has combined practical and academic work experience throughout his career of over 25 years.

As a practitioner, he has held different management positions in various projects for national and international companies with backgrounds in heavy construction, oil and gas, industrial, and infrastructure. In academia, he started as a lab professor at the University Industrial of Santander in 1995, while still a student in the Faculty of Engineering. In his senior years in the civil engineering department, he was a founder and member of the SAP90 research group.

From 2006 to 2014, he served as a teaching assistant for various courses at the University of Alberta, in the Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. In 2008 and 2014, he obtained a Master of Science in Construction Engineering and Management and a Ph.D. in Engineering Management, respectively. Dr Poveda’s education includes other graduate degrees and graduate certificates from the University of Maryland, Harvard University, and Lakehead University.

Dr. Poveda’s research can be encapsulated in three main areas: sustainable development and sustainability, management and business, and operational research and decision science. Over 30 published peer-reviewed conference and journal manuscripts and 2 books reflect Dr. Poveda’s diversified expertise, obtained by combining the results of years of research with practical experience. Since 2008, he has increased his involvement within academia by serving as a member of several editorial and review boards for national and international journals and conferences in sustainable development, management, and business, among other areas of knowledge.

Currently, Dr. Poveda is writing a 3rd book, working on another graduate degree at Harvard University, and planning on starting his second doctorate focused on education policy and administration.