Abstract
Infrastructure resilience is the ability of an infrastructure system to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions, which in turn requires a detailed understanding of vulnerability and risk. But while designing for foreseeable risks is a challenge, accounting for risks that are difficult or even impossible to foresee - such as those arising from complex interdependent processes - poses a far greater challenge. This paper argues that civil engineers need a way of addressing such low-chance but potentially high-impact risks if they are to deliver truly resilient infrastructure systems. They need to cultivate a wisdom to admit what they genuinely do not know, and to develop processes to manage emerging unforeseeable consequences. A generalised vulnerability theory that can be applied to any infrastructure system is described, together with an example of how it can be applied to an urban transport network.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 13-19 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Proceedings of the ICE - Civil Engineering |
Volume | 165 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Nov 2012 |
Keywords
- failures
- infrastructure planning
- risk & probability analysis
- VULNERABILITY