Leveraging socio-ecological resilience theory to build climate resilience in transport infrastructure

Abstract

Anthropogenic climate change poses risks to transport infrastructure that include disrupted operations, reduced lifespan and increased reconstruction and maintenance costs. Efforts to decrease the vulnerability of transport networks have been largely limited to understanding projected risks through governance and administrative efforts. Where physical adaptation measures have been implemented, these have typically aligned with a traditional "engineering resilience" approach of increasing the strength and rigidity of assets to withstand the impacts of climate change and maintain a stable operating state. Such systems have limited agility and are susceptible to failure from "surprise events". Addressing these limitations, this paper considers an alternate approach to resilience, inspired by natural ecosystems that sense conditions in real-time, embrace multi-functionality and evolve in response to changing environmental conditions. Such systems embrace and thrive on unpredictability and instability. This paper synthesises key literature in climate adaptation and socio-ecological resilience theory to propose a shift in paradigm for transport infrastructure design, construction and operation, towards engineered systems that can transform, evolve and internally manage vulnerability. The authors discuss the opportunity for biomimicry (innovation inspired by nature) as an enabling discipline for supporting resilient and regenerative infrastructure, introducing three potential tools and frameworks. The authors conclude the importance of leveraging socio-ecological resilience theory, building on the achievements in engineering resilience over the past century. These findings have immediate practical applications in redefining resilience approaches for new transport infrastructure projects and transport infrastructure renewal.

Using Biomimicry to Support Resilient Infrastructure Design

“…Expanding upon Holling's work on resilience of natural systems, researchers have begun applying these concepts to non-living systems such as transportation infrastructure (Hayes et al, 2019). Existing resilient infrastructure frameworks are typically generalized and can be applied across the array of infrastructure and disturbances.…”

“…Furthermore, infrastructure managers may be able to design in a way that works in conjunction with nature rather than against it. Some exploration of the applicability of Life's Principles to sustainable infrastructure exists (Aitamurto et al, 2013; Oguntona & Aigbavboa, 2017), but there has been less exploration of their applicability to resilience, although foundations have been established by (Hayes et al, 2019).…”

Enabling Biomimetic Place-Based Design at Scale

“…With increasing awareness of the complexity of these interrelationships and feedback loops, opportunities are arising for more dynamic and innovative approaches to design, construction, and operation. Such approaches require a move beyond siloed and discrete technical efforts to more holistic design methodologies that account for the complexity and the dynamics of changing local conditions [11][12][13].…”

Biomorphic Clothing Sculpture Interface as an Emotional Communication Space

“…the BionicMotionRobot (Festo, 2017), which mimics the movements of life; the high-speed railway in Japan, which reduces noise caused by aerodynamics inside tunnels by drawing inspiration from the silence of the kingfisher's beak and owl's feathers (Khaliq et al, 2014;Kennedy and Marting, 2016;Hayes et al, 2019); and Zimbabwe's Eastgate Center, which reduces energy requirements by employing a ventilation system that imitates the structure of a termite nest (Ramzy, 2015). Thus, biomimicry-which mimics nature's biological systems or structures-is becoming a solution in multiple fields, from everyday life to industry.…”