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Item Exploring the science of evacuation behavior and decision-making during large scale community evacuations: A scientometrics analysis and scoping review(Elsevier Ltd, 2026-03-01) Kannangara C; Kuligowski E; Siriwardana C; Zhang G; Adikariwattage V; Jayawardane PUnderstanding how people behave during large-scale community evacuations is important as it can reveal key decision-making gaps which can be addressed to improve emergency planning and to keep communities safer. This study examines the critical gaps in existing research on evacuation behavior and decision-making during disasters by holistically exploring the research domain of evacuation behavior. A total of 667 articles and their references were analyzed using scientometrics methods. This study employs a novel approach to the analysis called overlay networks in CiteSpace. The findings highlight gaps in our understanding of human behavior during the evacuation, such as the stay-or-go decision and travel-related behavior, including destination, mode, route, and return-entry choices, in the context of earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, volcanic hazards, and wildfires. Evacuations triggered by technological disasters are explicitly excluded from this review. It also emphasizes that tourist evacuations remain an underexplored area. Also, the current study reveals that established theories, such as the Protective Action Decision Model (PADM) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), remain underutilized in research on evacuation behavior during hazards like earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. This research supports the findings of previous studies in emphasizing the need for interdisciplinary approaches to evacuation research. It also underscores the importance of integrating existing behavioral evidence into evacuation models, alongside efforts to collect additional data. Also, the study emphasizes the importance of strengthening research collaborations with scholars in Asia and Africa. This approach seeks to address the disparity in research conducted across different regions of the world.Item Integrated flood risk management for urban resilience: A multi-method framework combining hazard mapping, hydrodynamic modelling, and economic impact assessment(Elsevier B V on behalf of the College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, 2025-09-01) Jayawardane P; Rajapakse L; Siriwardana CFlooding has become an emerging global catastrophe, generating considerable damage to both infrastructures and lives. Despite the critical need for quantitative assessments of both flood damage and the effectiveness of flood mitigation measures, most existing studies have focused on isolated aspects of flood risk. Only a very limited number of studies have comprehensively integrated hazard mapping, hydrodynamic simulations, and economic damage estimations to evaluate the real-world impact and effectiveness of flood mitigation measures (FMMs). This study presents a multi-method approach to evaluate the performance of such established structural FMMs. Initially, hazard assessments for two selected case study areas, the Colombo Metropolitan Area in Sri Lanka and Auckland, New Zealand, two flood-prone cities with contrasting geographical contexts. Flood inundation mapping for the Madiwela South Diversion, Colombo, Sri Lanka, was performed using hydrodynamic modeling to demonstrate the reduction in flood inundation area and depth after the implementation of the measure, considering six (6) design return periods (RPs). Subsequently, tangible and intangible property damage estimations for “without FMMs” and “with FMMs” were evaluated to identify the benefit of responding to flood conditions, utilising a vulnerability-based economic analysis. In addition to damage estimations, the study adopts a novel approach by conducting an investment viability analysis to find the Benefit-to-Cost ratios and Net Present Value of nine (9) selected FMMs implemented by Sri Lanka Land Development Co-operation (SLLDC). The FMMs implemented by SLLDC were selected from Colombo, Sri Lanka. The quantified damage estimates revealed a reduction in flood damages ranging from 39 % to 63 %, alongside a decrease in flood inundation depths between 9 % and 12 %, and the results underscore the significant effectiveness of FMMs in managing urban flooding and minimising its impacts. This cross-disciplinary methodology enables a transferable framework for resilience-oriented urban planning in diverse hydrological and geographical contexts.Item Need for strong university-industry partnerships: A case study in Sri Lanka(EDP Sciences, 2018-11-14) Randil C; Jayasiri G; Perera C; Siriwardana C; Liyanage C; Hettiarachchi SSL; Haigh R; Hakam A; Shin EC; Haigh R; Comfort L; Amaratunga D; Ismail IFA; Ophiyandri T; Haris S; Fauzan F; Hidayat B; Yosritzal Y; Istijono B; Herdianto R; Saravanan SUniversity-Industry Partnerships (UIPs) in the field of DRR have produced several innovative tools, services, and advancements in industrial applications globally. However, from the Sri Lankan perspective, the level of UIPs appear to be significantly lower compared to the global context. In Sri Lanka, a country that has suffered a lot from natural disasters such as landslides and floods especially over the past few years, DRR activities are undertaken by the governmental and private sector organizations and volunteers, mostly as separate entities. This could lead to inefficiencies, overlapping of efforts, and also to the reinvention of the wheel. The Universities as Higher Education Institutions have a key role to play in bringing the aforementioned stakeholders together not only to strengthen the work they do by effective partnerships but also to come up with innovative solutions through research and development. The purpose of this paper is to explore how effective UIPs can be created in Sri Lanka to achieve the above by exploring; 1) current status of UIPs in Sri Lanka; 2) barriers to creating UIPs; 3) needs and opportunities for creating UIPs; 4) identifying best practices in creating strong and sustainable UIPs. The purpose will be fulfilled with the use of a literature review and by gathering stakeholder opinions. The research findings revealed that there is a need to develop a policy that addresses the aspects of knowledge diffusion, production, engagement, increasing the exposure of the academia for the industry and capacity building in universities. This is in order to tackle key barriers to creating UIPs. There is also a need for strong and effective leadership initiatives from universities to ensure sustainability of UIPs in Sri Lanka.Item A Conceptual Framework for Enhancing Construction Safety in Sri Lanka Through Digital Technology Implementation(MDPI, Basel, Switzerland, 2025-04) Chathuranga N; Thajdeen F; Siriwardana C; Shrestha PPThe hazardous and unpredictable nature of construction work poses substantial safety challenges. Despite the long-standing reliance on traditional safety practices, accident rates in the construction industry remain unacceptably high, highlighting the urgent need for innovative solutions. Integrating digital technologies into construction offers a promising approach to safety enhancement with diverse applications. However, successful technology implementation requires user acceptance and strategic guidance. Consequently, this study develops a conceptual framework to guide digital technology implementation efforts to improve construction safety in Sri Lanka. The framework incorporates essential aspects of technology implementation, including safety application areas, benefits, barriers, and facilitators. The research methodology combines an industry-based cross-sectional survey of 101 construction industry professionals followed by a relative importance index analysis to evaluate the perceived significance of these factors. The findings indicate that the primary barriers to technology implementation are the skills and training gap, as well as the cost and investment constraints. The optimal facilitators to overcome barriers include research and development, education and training, and the establishment of industry-wide standards and guidelines. The framework is validated through an expert survey, ensuring its reliability and applicability. Ultimately, the findings present a structured approach to enhancing construction safety standards in Sri Lanka through digital transformation.Item Novel methodology for resilience assessment of critical infrastructure considering the interdependencies: A case study in water, transportation and electricity sector(Elsevier Ltd, 2025-03) Rathnayaka B; Robert D; Adikariwattage V; Siriwardana C; Kuligowski E; Setunge S; Amaratunga DCritical Infrastructures (CI) are vital for societal and economic stability, yet their resilience against disasters remains inadequately understood with the increasing interdependencies among the CIs. A better understanding of these interdependencies and the dynamic nature of CI functionalities is crucial for advancing disaster resilience assessment within engineering systems. This paper introduces a novel approach using a Dynamic Bayesian Network (DBN) to assess resilience in interdependent CI systems. The DBN method enables a probabilistic evaluation of system resilience by incorporating interdependencies and capturing the temporal dynamics of system capacities. This approach offers a more detailed perspective on resilience by modelling system functionality using expected values of different functionality states over time. Using a case study in Sri Lankan electricity, water distribution, and road infrastructure sectors and 34 experts, this study examines the complex network of CIs. It demonstrates the applicability of the proposed methodology. P-values of the Chi-Square test performed between the variation of model-predicted resilience and expert assessments are significantly less than 0.05, confirming the model's validity. Additionally, this study explores the expansion of the methodology for resilience assessment under multiple hazards, emphasizing its real-world effectiveness. The findings highlight the efficacy of the proposed methodology and its potential to assist asset managers, owners, and decision-makers in informed resilience planning and optimization strategies. This comprehensive approach fills critical gaps in existing methodologies, offering a robust framework for assessing CI resilience in a dynamic and systematic nature.Item Material selection in the construction industry: a systematic literature review on multi-criteria decision making(Springer Nature, 2025-01-21) Bajwa AUR; Siriwardana C; Shahzad W; Naeem MAMaterial choice is critical for ensuring sustainability in the construction industry. Higher carbon embodiment materials contribute towards greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. Decisions on sustainable material selection depend on multiple criteria and variables, thus creating a difficulty to determine the best choice. Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) techniques have the potential to address this challenge. However, there is limited data that reviews MCDM in choosing building and construction materials. This study aims to review the MCDM methods employed in the sustainable selection of building materials within the construction industry. This systematic literature review (SLR) incorporates meta-analysis and thematic mapping through applying “PRISMA framework” and “Bibliometrix”, respectively. This study explored and analysed the records published from 2010 to 2023. This work identified the critical steps for addressing decision problems in building material selection: Establishing criteria, ranking the hierarchy, comparing the selection criteria, and enabling consistency indices. Moreover, one of the most used MCDM methods, i.e. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was particularly found particularly useful for the selection criteria and weight assignment of variables regarding the waste, recycled, and composite materials. The involvement of several criteria and alternatives raised the complexity of decision problems, leading to the use of Hybrid MCDM. Hybrid MCDM techniques possess the capacity guide informed decisions for the sustainable material selection in the construction industry.Item Identifying Critical Criteria on Assessment of Sustainable Materials for Construction Projects in New Zealand Through the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) Approach(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2024-11-30) Qian J; Siriwardana C; Shahzad W; Rasekh H; Armaghani DJ; Mortazavi MNew Zealand’s goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by 2050 highlights the urgent need for integrating sustainable practices into the construction industry. Since the construction industry makes a major contribution to GHG emissions, this study aims to address this need by identifying and prioritizing the critical criteria relevant to the effective selection of sustainable construction materials for New Zealand’s construction industry. The research employs a multi-stage approach, including a comprehensive literature review, expert interviews, and industry surveys. Initially, 80 criteria were identified through the literature review. Subsequently, expert interviews and industry surveys led to the identification of 30 critical criteria, which were categorized into environmental, technical, economic, and social impacts, and were ranked based on their importance. This study utilizes a 5-point importance index and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to rank these criteria. This study notably integrates technical impacts with the three traditional sustainability pillars—environmental, economic, and social—providing a nuanced evaluation of construction material selection. The results indicate that environmental and technical criteria received the highest priority weights (32% each), followed by economic (19%) and social impacts (17%). The findings offer valuable insights for industry stakeholders, assisting them in applying these critical criteria to improve material selection practices in alignment with New Zealand’s sustainability objectives.Item Identifying and Prioritizing Critical Risk Factors in the Context of a High-Voltage Power Transmission Line Construction Project: A Case Study from Sri Lanka(MDPI, Basel, Switzerland, 2024-12) Weerakkody W; Rathnayaka B; Siriwardana C; Luongo A; Giunta MSThis study addresses critical risk factors in high-voltage power transmission line (HVPTL) construction projects, which are vital components of national energy infrastructure. HVPTL projects are essential for meeting energy needs but are often plagued by risks due to their linear construction nature, leading to project underperformance. However, the lack of attention to risk management often leads to project underperformance. This research aims to identify and rank these risks to facilitate effective risk management. Through literature review and preliminary surveys, 63 risk elements were identified under 14 main categories. These risks were ranked using two rounds of Delphi surveys and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The study focuses on a Sri Lankan HVPTL project. The most critical risk factors identified include “improper planning by the main contractor”, “delays in decision-making by the client/consultant”, “errors in initial costing”, and “inaccuracies in survey data”, with AHP analysis assigning significant weights of 43.9%, 18%, 16%, and 14.9% to these factors, respectively. Comparative analysis with similar studies reveals consistent findings, underscoring the importance of addressing delays in approvals, material unavailability, and construction-quality challenges. These results emphasize the necessity of adopting systematic risk-management techniques in HVPTL projects to mitigate uncertainties and enhance project outcomes.Item Evaluating the network of stakeholders in Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems for multiple hazards amidst biological outbreaks: Sri Lanka as a case in point.(Elsevier B.V., 2022-04-18) Jayasekara R; Siriwardana C; Amaratunga D; Haigh RSynergized impacts of simultaneous hazards amidst COVID-19 have called for the need for highly collaborative multi-sectoral approaches for disaster preparedness planning. In such a context, this study aims at evaluating the network of stakeholders in the National Early Warning System of Sri Lanka during preparedness planning. Social Network Analysis was used to visualise the network of stakeholders for selected hazard scenarios. Furthermore, a series of key informant interviews were conducted focusing on disaster preparedness planning during the recent multiple hazard scenarios. The findings highlight the need for a framework to guide the stakeholder coordination in preparedness planning for multiple hazards.Item A Social Assessment Framework to Derive a Social Score for Green Material Selection: A Case Study from the Sri Lankan Cement Industry(MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 2024-08-02) Fernando A; Siriwardana C; Gunasekara C; Law DW; Zhang G; Gamage JCPH; Caggiano AAssessing the sustainability of material-based products now encompasses social sustainability, a vital aspect often overlooked. Even though the existing frameworks provide a starting point, they do not often differentiate between the assessment criteria when making comparisons within one specific material category, which has made sustainability assessments more focused on environmental and economic aspects. This study addresses this critical gap by pioneering a social assessment framework curated to help practitioners to choose the most sustainable cement type out of the standard cement types used in the industry. Utilizing the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and linear-scoring method, criteria weights were systematically assigned based on scoring by industry and academic experts. The findings highlight the importance of integrating social sustainability with environmental and economic factors in cement selection. Unlike traditional material selection, which primarily considers cost and performance, green material selection emphasizes the holistic impact of materials, including social factors. Variations in weightage decisions among experts highlight the influence of practical experience, research interests, and context. Functionality emerges as a crucial criterion. The ranking of cement types based on social scores places CEM II/B-M at the top, followed by CEM IV/A, CEM II/A-S, CEM II/A-V, CEM I, and CEM II/A-LL. The evolving nature of sustainability necessitates ongoing research to refine and expand existing frameworks for a more sustainable construction industry.