Safety-Resilience Evaluation of Complex Underground Public Spaces in Cities

Abstract

Abstract Urban underground venues offer valuable space resources deficient in core city areas. Extensive areas, multiple functions, notable congregation of visitors, heavy pedestrian traffic, and high safety risks characterize the complex underground public space (CUPS) in cities. This study aimed to improve the understanding of safety-resilience measurement and management of CUPS risks. A literature review identified five dimensions: physical structure, environmental status, infrastructure element, government management, and human trait, from which 23 safety-resilience indicators were distilled. The entropy weighting method, sequential relationship analysis method, and game theory combined weighting method calculated the indicators’ objective, subjective, and combined weights. A system dynamics tool analyzed and plotted causality and stock-flow diagrams and developed an equation to build the safety-resilience indicator system. A cloud generator computed safety-resilience-level parameters and generated the safety-resilience evaluation cloud model. A safety-resilience indicator system was constructed. A case study of Fuzhou City (China) was adopted to test and verify the new model. The results show that the empirical project’s overall safety resilience is rated as a good level, indicating that it can resist sudden risks to some extent. It verifies the effectiveness of the safety-resilience indicator system. Multidimensional safety-resilience improvement measures are recommended to resolve the identified problems. The results provide a theoretical basis and decision-making reference for governments and enterprises to formulate risk management strategies and improve the sustainable operation of CUPS.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems Part A Civil Engineering, 2026 · DOI ↗