Yan Wang
Associate Professor
- Gainesville FL UNITED STATES
- College of Design Construction and Planning
Yan Wang's research focuses on developing and applying computational tools to quantity and manage urban resilience to disruptions.
Contact More Open optionsBiography
Yan Wang's areas of specialization in research, teaching, and service are at the intersection of urban resilience and urban analytics. Her profession centers on planning for the resilience of coupled human and environmental systems to “disruptions." She adopts a systematic framework that incorporates humans, environments (including both built and digital environments), and disruptions to investigate and model their interactions across time and space. Yan's scientific objective is to understand, model, and predict the intervening role of urban spatial planning and information infrastructures on population response and dynamics following disruptions such as extreme weather and climate events across varying local contexts and over different time extents using urban analytics.
Areas of Expertise
Media Appearances
A public health emergency was declared in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. Here's what that means
ABC News online
2024-09-30
North Carolina became the latest state to have a public health emergency declared by U.S. health officials in response to Hurricane Helene.
How UF Researchers are helping Floridians to build resilience
UF News online
2025-02-12
A professor of architecture at the University of Florida, Jeff Carney directs the Florida Institute for Built Environment Resilience, or FIBER. A research institute in UF’s College of Design, Construction and Planning, FIBER engages with communities to understand how the designs of buildings and cities expose Floridians to risks — not just storms, but also excessive heat, poor air quality, even a lack of health care.
Social
Articles
Age-Related Deficits in Mobility Resilience With an Extreme Weather and Climate Event
JAMA NetworkWang, et al.
2025-07-02
In this case series study, neighborhoods with an older population showed compromised mobility resilience associated with the aftermath of Hurricane Ian. These findings may inform neighborhood-targeted mobility interventions for climate resilience.
Integrated Smart Curb Management in Urban Built Environments Addressing Human Dynamics and Disruptive Technologies
Taylor & FrancisYan Wang
2025-03-19
The book chapter thus identifies key challenges of the curb environment that demand smart solutions and the essential components of the smart curb.
Assessing Catchment Vulnerability of Community-Based Small Businesses to Coastal Hazards: Spatial and Sectoral Disparities
ASCEGuo, et al.
2024-12-13
Climatic changes pose significant risks to the demand stability of coastal community-based small businesses (CSBs) due to the inherent vulnerability of their catchment areas. Given such threats, it is imperative for urban and regional spatial planning to incorporate CSB adaptation with a thorough assessment of their vulnerabilities. We thus quantify CSB vulnerability by assessing the social and spatial characteristics of catchment areas through an access-based, data-driven approach using the CSB-Catchment Vulnerability Index (CCVI).
The emerging “evident” role of climatic risk on migration: a study of four U.S. metropolitans
Climatic ChangeHaiyan Hao & Yan Wang
2024-02-22
The growing public awareness of climate risks and increased investments in climate adaptation may trigger resettlements, redistributing climate risks among population groups, and resulting in social consequences like gentrification. Previous studies have empirically examined the influences of climate risks on migrants’ destination choices, however, few have conducted research at the intra-municipal level, and even fewer have considered the associated social impacts.
Benchmarking Plans for Community-Based Small Business Resilience across Gulf Coast Counties
Journal of Planning Education and ResearchZiyi Guo & Yan Wang
2023-12-12
Community-based small businesses (CSBs) bear the brunt of environmental hazards aggravated by climate change, thus requiring appended community support. This research addresses the knowledge gap in the increasingly convergent field of hazard and climate adaptation planning research. It aims to benchmark the commitments of local plans toward CSB resilience (CSB-R).
Anticipating older populations’ health risk exacerbated by compound disasters based on mortality caused by heart diseases and strokes
Scientific Reports volumeShangde Gao & Yan Wang
2023-10-05
The health of older populations in the Southeastern U.S. receives threats from recurrent tropical cyclones and extreme heat, which may exacerbate the mortality caused by heart diseases and strokes. Such threats can escalate when these extremes form compound disasters, which may be more frequent under climate change.
