University of Ottawa

Purpose

Flood-induced disasters in both riverine and coastal environments have become increasingly frequent due to climate change and urban expansion. Traditional evacuation models rely on static assumptions and fail to capture the complexity of human decision-making under stress. Agent-Based Models (ABMs) offer a powerful alternative by simulating interactions between heterogeneous agents, allowing for more realistic and adaptive evacuation scenarios. This Project will apply a newly developed ABM model to evaluate evacuation effectiveness under different coastal and riverine flood scenarios, considering factors such as early warning systems, road network congestion, and social influence on decisionmaking. Incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI) will enhance predictive capabilities, while virtual reality (VR) will serve as a training and educational tool for emergency planners and local populations in flood-prone areas. The Project’s merged coastal engineering, AI-driven computational modeling and sociology of disaster management will create a robust, human-centered framework for disaster response.