Integrating Social Media into Climate-Resilient Infrastructure Planning: A Socio-Technical Case Study from Southeast Asia

Abstract

Climate change increasingly necessitates infrastructure systems that are not only resilient but also socially responsive. Traditional data collection measures hardly capture real-time local experience, and therefore, there are planning gaps regarding climate-related risks. This study aims to explore how social media can be integrated into climate-resilient infrastructure planning, particularly by filling the gap between civil engineering practice and people's digital participation. Using a qualitative descriptive approach, data were collected from two coastal cities in Southeast Asia through semi-structured interviews among engineers and citizens, online observation, and social media monitoring. Thematic analysis was conducted using NVivo software, and inter-coder reliability was assessed by double-coding 20% of the transcripts, achieving 90% agreement. There were four major themes found in the research: (1) social media as an environmental risk-sensor for real-time sensing; (2) impact of public sentiment on technical design decisions; (3) issues verifying and incorporating crowdsourced data; and (4) adaptive redesign recommendations based on digital crowd responses. Citizen reports geo-tagged were shown to correspond to infrastructure vulnerabilities such as clogged drainage and low-lying ground. In short, social media offers a powerful tool for democratizing infrastructure planning. New frameworks will have to integrate crowdsourced intelligence into digital platforms, such as urban digital twins and real-time dashboards, to enhance climate resilience and spatial equity.