Resilient infrastructure
Critical infrastructure failures resulting from rainfall-induced floods pose substantial risks to society, public health, economies, and the environment. How to plan, design, and build more resilient infrastructure?
The EU has one of the densest transport infrastructure networks in the world, but age and increasing pressure due to rising traffic is taking its toll. Moreover, the impact of climate change is exacerbating the situation. Europe is experiencing an increase in extreme rain events. These events can cause significant damages, both direct and indirect, as evidenced by rainfall-induced floods in 2021 that resulted in damages exceeding EUR 38 billion in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.
Expect the Unexpected: Floods and Critical Infrastructure
In a new Urban Insight report, experts delve into cities’ preparedness to withstand the impact of rainfall-induced floods on critical infrastructure.
By 2050, extreme summer rainfall events are projected to bring approximately 25% more rainfall than they do today. In response to these challenges, the European Union recently adopted the Critical Entities Resilience (CER) directive.
Sweco examined climate adaptation policies and water management plans from 26 European cities to understand their framework for managing climate risks. The report includes a guide with seven steps for building more resilient infrastructure in cities, based on policy analyses and interviews with city representatives.
From Grey to Green – Resilient transport infrastructure through nature-based solutions
Nature-based solutions (NBS) are natural solutions provided by healthy ecosystems and green infrastructure that can deliver significant economic and resilience benefits. NBS investments reduce carbon emissions, strengthen resilience to disasters, decrease biodiversity loss, and benefit human and ecosystem health. On top of this, every € 1 invested into nature restoration adds € 8 to € 38 in benefits.
In the white paper “From Grey to Green – Resilient transport infrastructure through nature-based solutions” from Urban Insight we highlight five fundamental lessons learned from the implementation of Nature-Based Solutions in transport infrastructure, along with expert recommendations for achieving success.
“In the future, we will see more weather events like this,” says Johanna Alkan Olsson, Associate Professor of Environmental Science at Lund University. ”The main problem is, of course, climate change combined with the fact that there is nowhere for the water to go,” Olsson explains.
European cities and towns are not equipped to handle the amount of water that has fallen recently. This is because of how cities are designed, with a lot of asphalt, few green areas and dense buildings.
Climate labelling system: State of Your Street
Sweco has developed a labelling system for climate adaptation called State of Your Street. The system provides decision-makers and citizens with instant insights into the impact of climate change through a labelling system that measures climate change effects on cities.
The system has already been adopted by several Dutch municipalities to set climate adaptation targets. The tool is seen as a significant contribution to the global effort to adapt our cities to the new climate, with experts, decision-makers and citizens all needing to be on board.
Until recently, solutions for reducing the risk of disasters and building climate resilience have mainly focused on grey infrastructure such as storm drains, embankments or retaining walls. However, grey infrastructure is seldom the most resilient, sustainable, or most cost effective. Instead, planners are beginning to turn to the use of natural elements and processes, called nature-based solutions (NBS).
Upgrading road infrastructure with NBS is a necessary step towards building sustainable, and resilient cities. While common construction materials like asphalt and concrete absorb and slowly release heat into the surrounding environment, green and blue surfaces reflect heat and create cooler zones within the city. NBS is key in the development of resilient infrastructure because it works as a proactive flood protection, and has a cooling effect during heatwaves.
“Nature-based solutions offer jobs, diverse economic returns, multiple co-benefits and are more sustainable in the long run compared to traditional infrastructure, says Diego Luna Quintanilla, architect, urban designer and strategic planner at Sweco in Belgium.
The role of technology and digital tools should be embraced to ensure that the most suitable NBS infrastructures are created at the most optimal locations and using the most effective design. Community involvement is also an essential component of many NBS projects.
“The community should feel a sense of ownership of the streetscape and responsibility for the care of the greenery in their streets”, says Carmen Van Mechelen, PhD and ecologist, senior project leader at Sweco in Belgium.
Together, we can co-create solutions and make our societies more resilient.
