Resilience of Urban Infrastructures in a Pandemic Scenario

Abstract

Most of the work on resilience of urban infrastructures focuses on their technical performance and reliability in disaster situations. In general, when we link urban infrastructure and Civil Engineering, we think of technology, engineering, constructions and technical or control buildings. In a state of pandemic like the current one, the study of the relationship between urban infrastructures and resilience is a phenomenon scarcely studied in the literature. The main objectives of the article are to analyse, from a Civil Engineering and actors’ perspective, the role and behaviour of urban infrastructures for the maintenance of the wellbeing of the community in a pandemic situation, and to fill a gap in the existing bibliography. The authors argue that the human factor is the most important element for infrastructure to be resilient in a Covid-19 situation. To achieve the objectives, a review of the literature was carried out considering the works published in the last 10 years. Then, a reflection is made about the influence of the resilience in infrastructures during a pandemic situation considering the relevant sustainability factors. As practical implications of this article, the drawn conclusions are expected to represent value for the societies of the future.

Revolutionizing U.S. Pavement Infrastructure: A pathway to sustainability and resilience through nanotechnology and AI Innovations

“…Sustainable infrastructure design takes into consideration both the life cycle and the impacts of projects, in order to minimize the resource consumption, reduce the emissions and ultimately improve the overall environmental performance (Shah et al, 2014). By integrating resilience into sustainable infrastructure planning, designers and builders can be assured that the infrastructure systems in place will have the ability to respond to changing situations, recover from disasters and proceed to serve the communities as normal (Gonçalves & Villena, 2021). Sustainable and resilient infrastructure design, integrating data-driven energy management (Ilojianya et al, 2024), green architecture (Umoh et al, 2024), and smart water management using IoT and AI , is crucial for optimizing resource use, reducing environmental impact, and ensuring structures can adapt to and recover from disturbances, thereby securing their longterm functionality and value to society.…”

Assessing Urban Policies in a COVID-19 World

“…Integrated spatial planning [31,83] was indicated as an overarching tool (or rather, a systemic direction for the operationalization of various specific tools). Urban resilience was often mentioned in this context [84,85]. However, it was cogently noted that epidemics were known in antiquity, so the problem is universal, and future urban organization should use proven experience from the past [41].…”

A Health Issue in Urban Politics After the Pandemic COVID-19 Outbreak

“…Integrated spatial planning [15,69] is indicated as an overarching tool (or rather a systemic direction for the operationalization of various speci c tools). Urban resilience is very often mentioned in this context [70,71]. However, it is cogently noted that epidemics were known in antiquity, so the problem is universal and the future urban organization should use proven experiences from the past [25].…”