Development of a methodology for making indirect estimates of the built physical environment

ABSTRACT

A conceptual framework was developed for the processes by which elements of the built physical environment of infrastructure, on-site improvements, and buildings accumulate over time. The basic empirical data are the surviving elements at the present time. Therefore, a complete an inventory as possible was made for one baseline year of one isolated metropolitan area, moderate in size so as to be typical but not so large as to be unmanageable, contained in a single county which has a highly developed city and county computerized data system, Few metropolitan areas met all these criteria, and the one selected was Wichita-Sedgwick County, Kansas. The purpose for making the inventory was to develop short-cut methods for making indirect estimates of the built physical environment for use in risk analysis, reduction of vulnerability, determination of damage rates, and planning relief and recovery with respect to earthquakes and other natural disasters.(AU)