Benefit–Cost Analysis for Earthquake-Resilient Building Design and Retrofit: State of the Art and Future Research Needs

Abstract

This paper reviews the state of the art in using benefit-cost analysis (BCA) to inform earthquake risk reduction decisions by building owners and policymakers. The goal is to provide a roadmap for the application and future development of BCA methods and tools for earthquake risk reduction. Our review covers three earthquake risk reduction measures: adopting up-to-date building codes for new construction, designing new buildings to exceed code requirements, and retrofitting deficient existing buildings. We highlight the factors that influence the cost-effectiveness of building design and retrofit, as well as tactics for increasing the cost-effectiveness of risk reduction strategies. We also present BCA results, methods, and data sources used in the literature to help researchers and practitioners design and conduct a reliable and robust BCA study. In the process, we develop a set of opportunities and challenges for applying BCA to new areas of research, as well as key gaps and limitations in current BCA approaches, including further investigation of above-code design, incorporation of code implementation and enforcement into BCA, quantification of environmental benefits of seismic retrofits, and optimization of seismic retrofits with energy upgrades. Overall, our review provides practical guidance and useful insights into BCA with the goal of increasing the earthquake resilience and economic efficiency of buildings in the United States.