Resilient infrastructure can withstand various weathering and disruptive events. How the structure can manage a disaster and its ability to recover quickly afterward, is key to its resilience. Resilient infrastructure is not limited to buildings; it can also include transportation or power systems. In light of natural disasters and the threats that climate change poses to the environment, resilient infrastructure is pivotal in creating structures that can protect communities and bounce back after taking a blow.
There are many benefits associated with resilient infrastructure, including providing communities with a sense of safety in the face of an emergency. Such infrastructure can minimize the negative effects of a disaster, thus improving the overall well-being of people living in communities affected by disasters. It also has a major economic factor—improving the planning and design of infrastructure to make it more resilient helps to reduce the cost of damages after a disaster. By making infrastructure less vulnerable, entire systems can be better designed and with greater flexibility so that damages are localized and do not spread through entire networks, crippling economies at large according to Stephane Hallegatte of The World Bank.
In low-income communities, which are often hit the hardest by natural disasters and weathering events because they are in impoverished areas, resilient infrastructure can go a long way in improving people’s living conditions.
Grace Axlund is an undergraduate student at Miami University where she is working towards her Bachelor’s degree. She is majoring in Urban and Regional Planning, co-majoring in Sustainability and minoring in Photography. She is an Infrastructure intern at ONC and has been with the organization since May 2022.
Sources
Carluccio, Savina. “What is critical infrastructure? Why is resilience important?” The Resilience Shift, 15 October 2018, https://www.resilienceshift.org/work-with-us/faqs/. Accessed 17 June 2022.
Voeller, John G. “A Framework for Establishing Critical Infrastructure Resilience Goals Report.” Homeland Security, 19 October 2010, http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/niac/niac-a-framework-for-establishing-critical-infrastructure-resilience-goals-2010-10-19.pdf. Accessed 17 June 2022.
“World Bank Report Illustrates Benefits of Resilient Infrastructure | News | SDG Knowledge Hub | IISD.” SDG Knowledge Hub, 11 July 2019, https://sdg.iisd.org/news/world-bank-report-illustrates-benefits-of-resilient-infrastructure/. Accessed 17 June 2022.
“$4.2 Trillion Can Be Saved by Investing in More Resilient Infrastructure, New World Bank Report Finds.” World Bank Group, 19 June 2019, https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2019/06/19/42-trillion-can-be-saved-by-investing-in-more-resilient-infrastructure-new-world-bank-report-finds. Accessed 17 June 2022.