Strengthening Resilience in Natural and Built Environments 

Led By Philipp Theis and James Evans

This work package focuses on strengthening resilience in both natural and built environments. It aims to address the challenges posed by environmental changes and urbanisation, ensuring sustainable and secure living conditions.

Aims and Objectives:

  • Environmental Resilience: Investigate strategies to enhance the resilience of natural ecosystems against climate change and other environmental threats.
  • Urban Sustainability: Develop approaches to improve the sustainability and security of urban areas, considering factors such as infrastructure, housing, and public spaces.
  • Technological Integration: Promote the use of innovative technologies to support resilience in both natural and built environments.
  • Policy Development: Formulate policies that integrate environmental and urban resilience, ensuring cohesive and comprehensive strategies.

We seek to understand:

  • Interactions between the natural and built environment that enhance or degrade infrastructure resilience. For example, security of offshore energy to human and natural threats.
  • Novel ways to intervene in the natural and/or built environment to enhance resilience. For example, the restoration of flood plains or changed upland farming practices to reduce floods.
  • Interconnections between resilience in the natural and built environment and other areas of society / SALIENT work packages. For example, cultural resilience to adapt to the possibilities of future waves of forced migration.
  • New methods and tools to identify, assess, and evaluate resilience threats and interventions across the natural and built environment. For example, intervening now in the built environment to adapt to longer term climate risks from extreme weather events and invasive species.

This initiative seeks to create robust and adaptable environments that can withstand and recover from various challenges, contributing to the overall safety and wellbeing of communities.