The human pursuit of greater well-being through better and faster growth paths for economic and social development is as old as the anthropocene itself. Infrastructure creation is at the core of this pursuit. However, infrastructure systems suffer due to disasters triggered by natural hazards, manmade events and impacts of climate change, compromising much of the development dividend of investments in these systems. To ensure that infrastructure can withstand predictable shocks, continue to provide essential services during crises and bounce back stronger to their full performance swiftly, there is a need to develop climate and disaster-resilient infrastructure.
Infrastructure resilience is a dynamic concept with innate complex attributes, such as assurance of service delivery, interdependence between systems and long life of assets in dynamic environmental contexts. Complexities of infrastructure resilience are further compounded by uncertainty engendered by climate change, socio-political instabilities and economic growth.
Given the scale of investment required, infrastructure development is typically undertaken with a 10 to 50-year horizon. However, rapid changes in environmental contexts and technological evolution, along with user expectations for faster and better services limit the extents of ‘longterm’ thinking. A case in point is the current push for net zero energy transition that has triggered a shift towards cleaner energy sources such as hydrogen. However, hydrogen generation requires renewable energy sources such as wind to deliver on its environmental objectives fully and in coastal areas and island contexts, off-shore wind energy infrastructure is highly vulnerable to various hazards such as cyclones and tsunamis, rendering the entire net zero energy value chain at risk.
Likewise, the unprecedented floods of 2021 in Ahr valley (Germany), New York (USA), Black Sea region (Turkey) and Kolhapur (India) are testimony that the past is no longer a good guide for the future. Analysis of past trends provide limited information to define the problem or the solutions we propose in the form of infrastructure systems. Such situations prompt the question: How do we develop resilient infrastructure for a not-so-distant, dynamic, and highly uncertain future?
Adaptive pathways for development planning offer a perspective to deal with this problematique. Adaptive pathways promote incremental changes in development by considering past, present, and post-disaster requirements through systemic resilience assessments. Such assessments incorporate functionality loss and subsequent recovery scenarios to generate pre- and post-disaster preparedness, planning and mitigation options. Due to interconnections within and between infrastructure systems, new fragilities are introduced through their dependencies. Thus, an adaptive pathway strategy also provides a deeper understanding of infrastructure systems in different scenarios to inform future development through incremental but progressive planning and action over time. Pre-disaster planning, preparedness strategies and post-disaster management options help enhance infrastructure resilience. In essence, adaptive pathways are an approach to help stakeholders deal with immediate challenges without losing direction and reap long-term development dividends.
Despite the vast strategic potential of adaptive pathways as a concept, deeper understanding and experience needs to be collated and consolidated. Only a few demonstrative examples have been documented to guide stakeholders in using adaptive pathways for development planning. To address this knowledge gap, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) has commissioned a Special Issue on Adaptive Pathways for Resilient Infrastructure that has brought together exemplary case studies, successful practices and evidence-based research from leading researchers and practitioners worldwide.
The Special Issue of the journal focuses on three interrelated sub-themes:
Dynamic disaster and climate change risk assessments for the development of resilient infrastructure,
Strengthening stakeholder participation and collaboration for adaptive pathways towards resilient infrastructure,
Implementation of adaptive pathways to foster resilience in complex and interdependent infrastructure systems across sectors.
In line with the above themes, research papers delve into different aspects of climate and disaster-resilient infrastructure with a focus on adaptive pathways.
In the endeavor to assist its member countries and organizations with their commitment to resilience of new and existing infrastructure, CDRI has commissioned this special issue. As a flexible approach to decision-making by identifying actions to manage the current crisis and reduce future risks, the adaptive pathways approach presents one such idea. It draws on an evolving understanding of the root causes of risks, their interlinkages and opportunities to adapt existing and new infrastructure systems with capability to face future disasters. Disaster events in the last few years have highlighted that some of the very best solutions of yesterday are, in fact, a part of today’s problems and that adaptability and agility will define a resilient tomorrow.
Our partners, Taylor and Francis have a legacy of over two centuries in scientific publishing and share our passion for new, innovative yet practical ways of promoting resilient infrastructure. Our collaborative efforts in this special issue publication will be a milestone in bridging the gap between knowledge and practice for resilience.