Developing a Holistic Resilience Framework for Critical Infrastructure Networks of Buildings and Communities in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Cities around the world increasingly recognize the need to build on their resilience to deal with converging forces such as disasters, environmental degradation, urban sprawl, and climate change. Given the significance of critical infrastructure networks (CINs) for maintaining the quality of life in buildings and communities, improving their resilience is of high importance to governors, planners, and policymakers. Therefore, this study is proposed to spatially analyze the resilience of CINs in Saudi Arabia and to develop a holistic resilience framework for buildings and communities. The research method of this study involves a case study of Najran, including a collection of CIN data, history of natural disasters, and future potential hazards. The data were compiled to list the basic parameters required for the development of resilience criteria. Overall results show that CINs in the city of Najran were performing below average compared with the measurement criteria. The study highlights the need to make improvements in terms of the robustness, redundancy, and flexibility of the CINs in the city. Moreover, this paper proposes a holistic framework of key aspects of resilient criteria that need to be taken into account by the city governor, policymakers, and developer bodies for better management of available infrastructure and its development in future years.

1. Introduction

Critical infrastructure networks (CINs) are the lifelines of modern cities. As per the definition, a CIN is the body of systems, networks, and assets that are so essential that their continued operation is required to ensure the security of a given nation, its economy, and the public’s health and safety. Although the CIN is similar in all nations due to the basic requirements of life, the infrastructure considered critical can vary according to a nation’s needs, resources, and development level. CINs are very complex systems and their failure is an immense concern for any nation or community. CINs failures certainly lead to economic losses, environmental damage, and social isolation. As shown in Figure 1 below, all the critical networks are connected and are necessary for a community, town, or city’s life. If any one of the networks is disrupted due to any crisis or a hazard, it will not only affect the life of the population but also harm other connected networks as well.

Recently, the world has experienced more frequent crises which disrupt city CINs. Crises can be exacerbated by various hazards such as natural disasters, war, terrorism, contagious diseases, accidents, human errors, etc. This creates surging effects which make the situation challenging and complicated in terms of preparedness plans, forecasting their impact on the environment, and economic and social life [1]. As defined by Pescaroli and Alexander, the cascading or surging effects are the dynamics present in disasters in which the impact of a physical event or the development of an initial technological or human failure generates a sequence of events in the human subsystem that result in physical, social, and economic disruptions [2].

Urban CINs are the lifelines that link societies with their business, activities, properties, and networks. Cities can be assessed based on the quality and sustainability of CINs [3]. It is argued that the degree of community connectivity and density development can create more potential hazards. It means when a crisis occurs, these developed and highly connected areas can be vulnerable as hazards lead to significant damage and disconnection between CINs and society [4]. McEntire defines vulnerability as the degree of risk, susceptibility, resistance, and resilience level of the system [5]. Vulnerability is not just assessed based on the degree of the hazard and the time of exposure of the CINs to an event, but it goes beyond this to take into account the capability of the system to resist and absorb the power of hazards [6]. It seems that the more an urban area is connected, the more an impacted area is vital [7]. This is because hazards are very quick and disruptive when a high concentration of networks, people, and activities are linked together. It makes disruption more severe, affecting the large scale of the urban area. It is claimed that traditional risk management is an inapplicable approach as the hazards become more vital and create more dynamics of interdependent factors threatening urban areas [4]. This is what motivates research communities and associated experts to question themselves regarding the most effective ways of making urban CINs less vulnerable and more resilient to potential hazards [3].

In the early 21st century, numerous natural and human-induced hazards and their consequential damage have made governments and societies more aware of the vulnerability of a community to disaster and the significance of building up resilient cities. Resilience is defined as the ability of a system to absorb and recover from a disruptive or destructive event [8]. Several national strategies around the world have been established to upsurge the level of resilience on a global scale, for instance, the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) in the USA [9], the European Program for Critical Infrastructure Protection (EPCIP) in Europe [10,11], and the Critical Infrastructure Resilience Strategy in Australia [12]. Moreover, research communities are in a great attempt to come up with effective solutions to encounter potential challenges and their consequences on a city’s lifeline. However, without close collaboration by government and private agencies as well as utility companies and city developers, one would not reach what they seek for the resilience of their CINs [13].

2. Literature Review

There are many different resilience frameworks in previous studies which draw the boundaries and characteristics of this concept. Further, Zobel, Gibson, and Tarrant, [14,15] divided resilience into four dimensions: (a) technical resilience, which focuses on the organization’s physical system and its ability to perform accurately in the event of a crisis; (b) organizational resilience, which focuses on the capacity of chief managers to make the right decisions and take actions in which they can avoid a crisis or at best mitigate its impact; (c) social resilience, which focuses on the ability of people to minimize the impact of a crisis by working together in a very high sense of community, aiding and volunteering responsible actors; and (d) economic resilience, which focuses on the ability of the individual or organization to encounter extra budgets when a crisis evolves.

Lhomme et al. [16] present a holistic resilience framework for CIs that aids chief managers in identifying and improving a CI resilience. This framework proposes three main components: (a) resilience policies, (b) the influence of each resilience policy on the three-resilience lifecycle stages (prevention, absorption, and recovery), and (c) implementation procedures which identify the time-based order in which the resilience policies should be applied to reach the highest level of effectiveness. On the other hand, Brunsdon and Dalziell state that resilience can be broken down into two elements: vulnerability and adaptive capacity.

A research group in New Zealand named “Resilient Organizations” established a framework to come up with organizational resilience levels. This framework is a collection of 13 indicators categorized under three characteristics: leadership and culture, networks, and change readiness [17]. In the same manner, Pearson and Clair [18] define eight key concepts of organizations that are resilient. This work is based on work by the Trusted Information Sharing Network’s Community of Interest. However, it is argued that the outcome and proposed framework in this regard are focused on organizational aspects of resilience without paying attention to other aspects such as technical, economic, and social factors to improve resilience. A few other authors [19,20] define a set of indicators to evaluate policies that support resilience concerning disasters. However, these policies are considered weak because they include just social resilience and overlook other key factors of policies that support CIN operators. Some worldwide studies have attempted to analyze CINs and their level of resilience [21]. Different research approaches have been applied such as network-based approaches, modeling techniques, and simulation approaches such as empirical approaches, agent-based approaches, decision support system approaches, etc. [22,23,24,25,26,27,28]. Al-Saidi et al. performed a study on the conflict resilience of water and energy supply networks in Yemen [29]. A similar study was performed by Medel et al. [30], where they proposed a resilience framework for managing supply networks in the Philippines. A study conducted by McDonald et al. explains the resilience assessment of infrastructure in New Zealand during a seismic event [31]. Qasem and Jamil [32] provided a financial analysis model for the rehabilitation of underground pipe networks in CINs. Comprehensive analysis of various resilience networks and strategies have been found in the literature along with challenges faced by the occupants in their application [33,34,35,36]. However, none of them defines the characteristics and requirements of Saudi Arabia by incorporating the local cultural and traditional values.

The study of the available literature shows that many studies present a broad set of parameters deliberating ways to build CIN resilience levels. However, these research approaches have their particular advantages based on research objectives and do not apply to other communities having different characteristics and parameters. Additionally, there is very limited work and research available on the resilience of urban critical infrastructure in Saudi Arabia.

The following questions were found important to be answered.

• What are the available CINs in the study area?
• What is the condition of the existing CINs?
• What are the potential risks for damage or degradation of the available CINs?
• What factors and parameters should be considered to avoid any potential damage to the available CINs of the city?

To obtain the answers to the abovementioned research questions, this study has been taken up with the main aim of providing city stakeholders and decision-makers with a robust and holistic resilience framework, which is proposed to be an application scheme for Saudi Arabia. A case-study-based approach is found to be the most relevant to meet this study’s aim as it incorporates more realistic data and provides direct access to other important documents and information. The city of Najran is taken as the study area. An innovative research methodology is developed and applied to the city of Najran. Key findings are explained in detail along with the results and discussion regarding the proposed holistic resilience framework and its future implementation.

3. Research Methodology

As presented in Figure 2, this research is designed based on a case study approach. The methodology of the study can be divided into three main phases.

Phase 1. Data collection of CINs: It includes the collection of data on several fundamental networks and services within the city of Najran. The data are in the form of layouts, maps, quantitative data, and annual reports from diffident organizations.

Phase 2. Data collection of potential hazards: It is focused on field inspection, self-observation, and historical study of the potential hazards relating to urban critical infrastructure networks to assess the level of resilience of Najran.

Phase 3. Development of holistic resilience framework: The final phase consists of the development of the required framework after the compilation and analysis of the data collected in the first two phases.

4. Case Study Area

Najran is located on the southern boundary of Saudi Arabia with Yemen. This study focuses on an area of approximately 3000 km², situated between longitude 44°00′00″ and 44°50′00″ E and latitudes 17°20′00″ and 17°40′00″ N, as shown in Figure 3. Najran is divided into two main sections extending along the mainstream of Najran valley. The first section is West Najran, which consists of an urban area with various agricultural lands. It extends from west to east and has many residential neighborhoods and is surrounded by mountains in the north and south. The second section, East Najran, is under development to be urbanized, and this land mostly consists of vacant desert, and it is currently under expansion and improvement.

The Najran valley has narrowed and gotten willowier over time according to the analysis of satellite pictures from the last 44 years. It is also a flood-prone valley, posing a risk to both people and property. Greater pollution from municipal trash, agricultural waste, chemical and pesticide content, and vehicle emissions have all come from increased urban sprawl and human activity. Waterways carry these toxins into the soil layers, polluting both the soil and the subsurface water. When the Najran valley’s river floods, it is thought that these toxins are distributed across the area [37].

5. Results and Discussion

The key findings and discussion of the study are presented here and categorized into two main sections. Detailed discussion on the history, current status, and future perspectives have been presented related to the critical infrastructure networks and the potential hazards to these CINs.

5.1. Critical Infrastructure Networks

5.1.1. Road and Highway Networks

The city of Najran has reached a good amount of civilization despite the city’s extension with the Najran valley, which cuts through the Najran plateau with hard base rocks, the rugged surface of the city, and the isolated mountains, due to continuous erosion through time. The road network in the city of Najran, as shown in Figure 4, includes 14 main squares, of which King Abdulaziz Road accounts for more than half, and the number of intersections is very high. The reason for this large number of intersections is the huge number of paved roads, which number more than 6320. The busiest interchange is the intersection of King Saud Road with King Abdulaziz Road, followed by Al-Khamis Junction and the intersection of King Fahd Road with King Abdul Aziz Road and Sharora Junction. The city’s road network serves seven overpasses and one tunnel in the Al-Faisaliah neighborhood, achieving transport connections and preventing traffic jams on the city’s roads.

The distribution of road length varies among the city’s 76 neighborhoods, which are the designed residential communities consisting of houses, apartments, commercial areas, and other basic amenities, led by Ghuila, which accounts for 14.2% of the total road length in the city, due to its wide area of 62.5 km², followed by Al-Shorfa (6.9%), then Al-Fahd (4.6%), while the percentage of road length ranges from 3 to less than 4% in three neighborhoods, namely Al-Athaiba, Al-Rawda, and Nahouqa. A lot of road construction projects are currently under process as well.

5.1.2. Water, Sewer, and Drainage Networks

Water, sewer, and drainage networks are a complex system of interconnected pipes and appurtenances to buildings and industries to meet a certain demand. These spatially distributed networks are vulnerable to hazards the most since they cover a large land area where the possibility of hazards or human error can lead to severe cascading effects. As per the published research, the study on the resilience capacity of such networks has increased steadily over the past few years [38].

The city of Najran has a weak network of water as the proportion of houses connected to water does not exceed 13% of the total city houses, as shown in Figure 5. The length of the water pipe networks is about 375 km, whereas the pipe diameters vary between 100 and 300 mm. It is noted that the network is concentrated in the old parts of the city, especially where the pipes have a diameter of 300 mm, while the water network with a diameter ranging from 100 to 225 mm is concentrated in the east of the city. It is noted that there are large parts of the city that are not covered by a freshwater network, and the residents of those areas depend on reservoirs that are filled with desalinated water, especially in the western, central, and eastern parts of the city. It was reflected in the decrease in the average per capita consumption of water, measuring 54 lit. per capita/day, which is very low compared to the average value of 231 lpcd for the whole kingdom.

The existing water drainage network must also be improved by utilizing the existing valley system to reduce the flood risk both in the built-up area and farmlands.

5.1.3. Electricity Distribution Network (EDN)

The city of Najran has an excellent electricity distribution network covering all neighborhoods of the city, where the percentage of homes connected to electricity reaches 99.1% of the city’s total houses. The electricity supply to the city is conveyed from several regions, the most important of which are Jazan and Asir, in addition to local production from some stations, including the Najran University electricity station. Most of the electricity is generated through thermal resources; however, renewable energy resources are also being utilized, including solar energy, which is expected to increase soon in the region.

5.1.4. Telecommunication Network

The city of Najran has an efficient telecommunication network. Almost the whole city is covered by the supply of internet and communication signals through cables. With the advancement, many parts are now covered by fiber optic cable (FOC) as well through the fiber to the home (FTTH) platform. Government and private distributors are working efficiently to connect the whole city with FOC.

5.2. Potential Hazards

Hazards can lead to a crisis when cascading effects are accumulated. A crisis in a CIN is defined as a consequence of an unexpected triggering event that suddenly or by an accumulative process of near misses strikes the entire system [39]. Hence, preventing and preparing for something mysterious is almost unmanageable since no one can estimate or know how a crisis will happen and what damage might occur to people or properties or affect the whole CIN. Today’s world is more compact and connected than ever before, and interactions amongst CINs are also more complex than before, and this makes it difficult to anticipate how an incident that happens in a CIN may disturb the rest of the whole urban network [40].

Many different types of data were utilized to evaluate the scale of geological hazards, including remote sensing and meteorological data, soil and groundwater samples, and field and laboratory investigations in the Najran area of Saudi Arabia. All institutions and governments have a strong desire to comprehend the specifics of various geological risks and their impact on critical locations. Because of its physiographic and geologic nature, the city of Najran is vulnerable to a variety of geohazards. Although Najran consists of rapidly developing urban and agricultural sectors, some infrastructure has been built in geo-environmental-hazard-prone areas.

5.2.1. Heavy Rainfall and Flood Hazard

In most of Saudi Arabia, the rainfall distribution over the year consists of one or two powerful thunderstorms of short duration; however, some locations, such as the Taif, Abha, Sarawat, and Najran mountains, experience rainfall events regularly [41]. Along the western escarpment’s higher slopes and canyons, flash floods and related debris flows are prevalent. Despite its arid climate, Saudi Arabian soil has a low retention potential in response to short-term rainfall events. Normally dry valleys can swiftly change into raging torrents during and after heavy rainfall [42]. Low-lying areas along roads and highways in cities can swiftly fill with floodwater, trapping unsuspecting vehicles and wreaking havoc on municipal infrastructure. Because of changes in meteorological conditions, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has recently received a lot of rain. This occurrence has sometimes led to flash floods resulting in loss of property and life. During the flash flood effects, many buildings, infrastructure, and industrial, urban, and agricultural lands, and other activities were pushed away in crucial locations that are always subject to floods. The major factors contributing to the damage and loss of infrastructure and other human activities as a result of flash flooding are a lack of understanding of the risks and the absence of any form of an early warning system. Moreover, the sewer and drainage network may run out of their capacity in the case of high floods and may cause huge damage to the infrastructure system.

Table 1. Amount of runoff in Najran valley before the construction of the dam [41].

Month	1967	1968	1969	1970	1971	1972	1973	1974	1975	1976
Runoff (MCM)	3.4	1.2	17	19.2	6.5	3.5	2.1	9.7	0.1	5

below shows the amount of flood flow during 1967–1976. It can be seen that the largest flood happened in 1970.

Based on the prevailing floods in Njaran, a dam was constructed in 1980, upstream of the Najran valley, to stop water during the rainy season. Since that time, no significant flood has occurred in Najran valley. Additionally, the water stored in the reservoir of the dam is used occasionally for irrigation purposes as well.

To prevent a community from flood hazards, drainage basins can be divided into hazard levels from 1 to 5, with 5 being highly hazardous to 1 being no hazard. This scale can be used to create a hazard map and point out the flood-prone areas to provide suitable measures well ahead of time.

5.2.2. Landslide and Soil Fertility Hazard

The shaky rocks in the mountains of the Najran region pose a threat to the traveling public, transportation, infrastructure, local businesses, and the environment. From time to time, road and highway cuttings fail. Large rock blocks or even larger assemblages of rock crash down on the road surface due to high groundwater pressures after heavy rains [43]. The failed material is frequently contained in ditches. The material occasionally spills out onto the road, causing damage to the road surface or automobiles passing over it as well as injury and death to vehicle occupants.

As population centers are expanding in the coming decades, new requirements for establishing civil infrastructure across tough terrain will increase the number of rock cuttings along transportation systems [44]. The roads and highways that have been developed between Najran and Abha city have many risky spots. Many rock-fall incidents have happened in these places, obstructing roads and causing infrastructural damage, some of which have gone unreported [45].

In general, rock-fall evaluation of slopes necessitates a thorough understanding of the geology of the area, including geological structures, rock mass discontinuity features for structural controlled failures, and rock-cut face characteristics for raveling-type failures [46]. Other elements such as traffic congestion and road designs, which impact the risk to moving vehicles, such as the Najran–Habona road, must also be considered.

Another after-effect of the heavy rainfall is the depleting soil fertility and strength. The precipitation of various dissolved components of groundwater in dry and semi-arid environments causes surface hardening of silty clay soils through the formation of crusts. When soils are wetted or dried, significant volume changes can occur, and the danger of overloading beneath weaker layers should be considered. Uplift pressures from expansive soils formed from residual soils cause significant damage to houses and other infrastructure [47]. Furthermore, many geotechnical issues in these structures were documented, including horizontal and diagonal wall cracks as well as foundation tilting.

5.2.3. Groundwater Quality and Depletion Hazard

The main source of fresh water in Najran is groundwater. Although the Najran dam, constructed in the western part of the valley, has a suitable capacity to store surface runoff, it does not fulfill the agricultural and domestic needs of the city of Najran. The quality and quantity of groundwater of the city of Najran have been studied by taking boreholes and samples from wells in various parts of the region. Soil samples were tested for the chemical composition of the soil, polluting materials, and water content. Radiochemical analysis was performed to observe the geological formations and different minerals having wide chemical compositions and crystalline structures, which primarily characterize acidic igneous rocks such as feldspars, micas, and quartz [45].

The studies have revealed that the water level in the city of Najran has been becoming depleted for the last two decades. The depletion in the groundwater level may cause water shortage in the region with negative effects on the water supply network as well. One of the reasons is the construction of the Najran Dam and the second reason is that there are no recharging wells in the region. The primary anions found in the groundwater collected from the research region were found in low amounts, and in other cases, they were completely absent. The groundwater did not include contain (NH₃) or chlorides (Cl). According to WHO drinking water standards, nitrite-2 and nitrates-23 were detected in low amounts, with maximum levels of 0.3 mg/L and 52 mg/L, respectively [45].

5.2.4. Sand and Dust Storm Hazards

Dust storms are somewhat important for a region because they change the energy budget in the atmosphere by scattering and reflecting incoming solar radiation and so influencing air temperature [48]. However, dust storms do have a negative influence on human existence since they are a major source of airborne infections and cause nuisance, as well as causing delays in road and air traffic and damage to communication equipment [49,50]. The size of dust particles found in dust storms, varies significantly; the smaller the particle, the greater the distance from which it was taken away and the longer it remains suspended in the troposphere, even up to a week. Other minerals found in the dust included feldspar, calcite, dolomite, micas, clay minerals, gypsum, halite, opal, amorphous inorganic and organic material, and amorphous inorganic and organic material [51]. The type of wind, the composition of the soil or sediment, and the presence of any surface impediments to wind passage are all elements that determine the character of storms [52].

The Rub Al-Khali Desert is a crossroads for the wind systems that interact across the Najran area. Dust storms that are several thousand feet thick harm airline services, airport closures, road transport disruptions, and sandblasting have been observed to strip cars of their paint. Dust storms have been known to induce respiratory and ocular difficulties, as well as to spread diseases over the world by dispersing virus spores into the atmosphere. They also reduce agricultural output by removing organic materials and the nutrient-rich lightest particles from arid areas [45].

5.2.5. Traffic Accident Hazard

Traffic accident hot spots are mainly centered in the west of the city, as shown in Figure 6, plotted with three confidence interval levels of 90%, 95%, and 99%. As a whole, two zones can be identified; the first one is a horizontal stretch from Al Amlah district in the north to the Rajla district in the south, and the second is found to be a longitudinal stretch from the Maqan district to the Hadhan district.

On the other hand, traffic accident cold spots are concentrated in the northern parts of the city in Al Senaiyyah, Orissa, parts of Al Ghuwayla, Aba Elkhirit, and Al Massamah districts. The cold spots are spread out in the western and eastern parts of the previous zone, while they are mainly centralized in the southern parts of the city. If the map shown in Figure 6 is compared with the population density of the Najran region, it is obtained that more traffic accidents happened in the area which is more populated and has smaller width of roads.

6. Proposed Holistic Resilience Framework

There are many divisions and administrative committees in Najran concerned with drawing future and current plans for all development activities. The expansion of infrastructure is one of the most important factors for development in the Najran region. There are a total of five managerial levels to track and manage the building and expanding infrastructure. The Emirate of Najran region is the top management that approves all development projects and plans and is located within the Emirate of Najran region. The other management includes the royal leadership, the ministries at the national level, management at the city level, and lastly the administrative and development staff at the community level. If the region is exposed to environmental factors or other risks, the emirate forms a group of committees from all these governmental institutions to manage risks and implement preventive plans to reduce these risks. Each government department has created a risk department to raise the alert level and reduce damage from potential hazards. The data collected in the study were studied in detail and in conjunction with all other relevant parameters.

After careful discussion and analysis of the data, a holistic resilience framework was proposed based on the general outcomes from this comprehensive assessment of Najran CINs. As shown in Figure 7, this framework has four overarching categories; the role of local government, the health and well-being of occupants, facilities and environment, and the moral and social values of occupants. Underneath each category, a list of broad criteria that are connected to that particular category was proposed, which when enhanced will increase the overall resilience level of the building or a community or a building. The proposed holistic resilience framework, when applied, will produce beneficial results in the better and more efficient management of the resources.

7. Conclusions and Recommendations

Critical infrastructure is an important component of cities and plays an important role in ensuring inhabitants’ socioeconomic well-being. As a result, many academics have underlined the need for taking the appropriate steps to assure the critical infrastructure’s reliability and continuous functionality by improving resilience characteristics such as robustness, redundancy, and flexibility. Given estimates of a rise in the frequency and intensity of natural catastrophes, the subject of critical infrastructure resilience has received increasing prominence in recent years. As a result, there has been a paradigm change in emphasis from infrastructure protection to infrastructure resilience. Despite this, research on the resilience of critical infrastructure networks is relatively scarce when Saudi Arabia is taken as the subject. This research should be viewed as a first step toward closing the gap. the city of Najran was taken as the case study and has experienced numerous severe catastrophic occurrences in recent years. The chosen measurement criteria are used to assess the city’s performance in terms of preparation, robustness, redundancy, and flexibility, all of which are thought to be important for enhancing critical infrastructure resilience. These features have an impact on the system’s ability to absorb shocks and quickly return to normal.

The analysis presented in the article discovers the shortcomings in terms of robustness and redundancy are important challenges that jeopardize the resilience of Najran’s vital infrastructure networks. Another important point to keep in mind is that resilience has numerous aspects, and this study only looked at the physical one. In reality, various socioeconomic and institutional factors will need to be further investigated in the future to determine how they can help address the challenges raised in this research. The historical areas of the city place a special emphasis on these qualities. Finally, it should be noted that this research depended on the experience of a small number of stakeholders. The involvement of a broader spectrum of stakeholders in future studies should be considered. Incorporating more stakeholders in the process may result in the identification of a greater number of indicators. Despite these limitations, we expect that the proposed framework will be a robust starting point toward the more resilient infrastructure of the city of Najran and will also aid the city governor, developers, and policymakers to improve essential CIN resilience in Najran. Future studies should therefore prioritize examining financial options for the renewal and redevelopment of activities. Meanwhile, mechanisms for controlling and regulating urban development in the city must be developed to minimize future lock-in consequences.