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Resilient Livelihoods: The Vulnerability of Commutes to Street Network Disruption - Commutes connect people to their livelihoods, and commutes' vulnerability to disruption impacts individual quality of life and societal economic outcomes. The literature suggests that street network design influences trip vulnerability to man-made and natural disasters, but it focuses on evacuation planning and network performance at large - revealing less about empirical trip patterns, and particularly commutes. This study investigates how different types of street network disruptions impact commutes, then estimates relationships between street network design and commute vulnerability. We simulate 266 million empirical commute trips across 387 U.S. metro areas alongside three different disaster type simulations, then model trip outcomes as a function of local network and trip characteristics. All else equal, we find that fewer streets per node and higher circuity each consistently predict greater odds of trips becoming disconnected and greater changes in length for rerouted trips. These design characteristics interact with natural elements of urban geography to determine sustainability outcomes. We argue that these offer key opportunities for urban planners and policymakers intervening into existing or designing new street networks for more secure and sustainable livelihoods after unexpected events.
