Interdependent Infrastructure as Linked Social, Ecological, and Technological Systems (SETSs) to Address Lock‐in and Enhance Resilience

Abstract

Traditional infrastructure adaptation to extreme weather events (and now climate change) has typically been techno‐centric and heavily grounded in robustness—the capacity to prevent or minimize disruptions via a risk‐based approach that emphasizes control, armoring, and strengthening (e.g., raising the height of levees). However, climate and nonclimate challenges facing infrastructure are not purely technological. Ecological and social systems also warrant consideration to manage issues of overconfidence, inflexibility, interdependence, and resource utilization—among others. As a result, techno‐centric adaptation strategies can result in unwanted tradeoffs, unintended consequences, and underaddressed vulnerabilities. Techno‐centric strategies that lock‐in today's infrastructure systems to vulnerable future design, management, and regulatory practices may be particularly problematic by exacerbating these ecological and social issues rather than ameliorating them. Given these challenges, we develop a conceptual model and infrastructure adaptation case studies to argue the following: (1) infrastructure systems are not simply technological and should be understood as complex and interconnected social, ecological, and technological systems (SETSs); (2) infrastructure challenges, like lock‐in, stem from SETS interactions that are often overlooked and underappreciated; (3) framing infrastructure with a SETS lens can help identify and prevent maladaptive issues like lock‐in; and (4) a SETS lens can also highlight effective infrastructure adaptation strategies that may not traditionally be considered. Ultimately, we find that treating infrastructure as SETS shows promise for increasing the adaptive capacity of infrastructure systems by highlighting how lock‐in and vulnerabilities evolve and how multidisciplinary strategies can be deployed to address these challenges by broadening the options for adaptation.

Stormwater Ponds in the Southeastern U.S. Coastal Plain: Hydrogeology, Contaminant Fate, and the Need for a Social-Ecological Framework

“…Arguably the largest opportunities for redesigning stormwater management systems lie in currently developing areas (e.g., National Research Council (NRC), 2008). Although infrastructure "lock-in" (Markolf et al, 2018) presents barriers to change, retrofits are also possible, especially considering that many older stormwater detention ponds may be approaching major maintenance milestones. Stormwater ponds and other green infrastructure designs may be adapted for coastal plain hydrogeologic conditions (e.g., Gregory et al, 2011).…”

“…As researchers and stormwater professionals move from documenting water quality and quantity performance and engineering design and into the realm of scientific outreach, restoration, or advocating for structural and non-structural changes to urban development, success will depend on how well place-based social, political, and economic factors are interwoven (Thornton and Laurin, 2005;Barbosa et al, 2012;Betts and Alsharif, 2014;Young et al, 2014;Monaghan et al, 2016;Persaud et al, 2016;Dhakal and Chevalier, 2017;Markolf et al, 2018). Thornton and Laurin (2005) aptly refer to the prerequisite for social sciences and marketing in environmental sustainability as "soft sciences and the hard reality of lake management."…”

“…Improving stormwater management in general, and wet pond implementation in particular, will undoubtedly require collaboration between a variety of professional fields. Venn diagrams have been used by other researchers to conceptualize the interdisciplinary nature of integrated stormwater management, for instance by illustrating overlapping economy/regulatory, ecology, and society/institutions (Thornton and Laurin, 2005), or with engineering/technological, environmental, and social components (Markolf et al, 2018;Prudencio and Null, 2018). Markolf et al (2018) describe bidirectional interactions between these infrastructure system components.…”

Advancing the Understanding of Adaptive Capacity of Social‐Ecological Systems to Absorb Climate Extremes

“…Climate extremes can affect society by impacting ES, infrastructure, energy, and transport ( Figure 1). These impacts can disrupt services within society but also influence the functioning of ecosystems, for example, when built infrastructure reduces the natural inundation area in flood plains (Markolf et al, 2018;Miller et al, 2018). The impact time of a driving factor might include a resistance phase until the impact reaches its maximum damage (depth D of impact basin).…”

“…Earth's Future THONICKE ET AL. (Markolf et al, 2018;Miller et al, 2018); considered in size and structure of actor network to engage stakeholders across scales and sectors (Tompkins & Adger, 2004) and traditional knowledge (Berkes & Jolly, 2001), SDG indicator 11.5.2…”