Architecting the hub-and-spoke model in rural Alaska: hierarchical topography and infrastructure interdependencies

Abstract Rural Alaskan communities rely on critical infrastructure systems (CIS) (e.g. water systems, transportation) for health, safety, and economic opportunity. These critical services are often distributed in a ‘hub-and-spoke’ model, meaning that urban centers provide resources to surrounding hub towns (intermediate hubs) and smaller communities (the spokes), enabling residents of remote villages to access key services. These networks are complex, as they span various geographic hierarchies while interfacing with multiple infrastructure systems. For instance, the transportation network moves essential supplies and resources for operations, maintenance, and construction of other sectors. However, in rural Alaska, the structure of individual CIS across geographical hierarchies (i.e. villages, hub towns, and urban centers) and the types of interdependencies that support this structure are largely unexplored in literature. As these interfaces provide both sources of vulnerability and resilience, an understanding of how services and resources reach small villages is critical for decision-making entities in emergency management, supply chain and logistics, infrastructure provision, and public health. Enabled by semi-structured interview data with key regional infrastructure providers and semi-cognitive systems mapping, this study fills this gap in knowledge by mapping critical infrastructure interdependencies in this context. Findings show that CIS can be described by the level of service available to village residents without leaving the village itself, and advanced service typically requires resources from the hub towns and urban centers. Infrastructure networks rely heavily on transportation and telecommunications, posing significant financial and logistical challenges. Further, environmental variability threatens multi-systemic disruptions. Policy suggestions include flexible federal funds to develop transportation, R&D of emerging technologies in decentralized infrastructure, and relevant policy changes specific to the needs of rural Alaska, such as region-specific operator certifications.