Robust and reliable civil infrastructure is foundational to economic vitality, innovation, and public wellbeing. Civil infrastructure comes in many forms that include physical assets (e.g., power, water, wastewater, telecommunications, transportation systems, and networks), critical facilities and protection systems (e.g., schools, hospitals, and flood control systems), and networks that interconnect them.

While recent cyber incidents to data and software disrupted the lives of Americans, national headlines also have carried stark warnings about foreign hackers positioning cyber “bombs” in American infrastructure to wreak havoc on our economy and cause harm to citizens and communities – a real threat to our physical safety.

Services provided by lifeline infrastructure systems are critical to the recovery of social functions after an earthquake. Lifeline infrastructure includes water, wastewater, drainage, electric power, communications, gas and liquid fuels, solid waste, and transportation systems. They are complicated and large geographically distributed systems built over long periods of time with specialized components made of different materials.

Session 1 - Resilience at Scale: Connecting Human Wellbeing with Planetary Health

The building industry has been working on sustainability since LEED began, yet we still contribute almost 40% of the global greenhouse gas emissions every year. The COVID-19 pandemic elucidated the significant role the built environment plays in creating healthy buildings and resilient communities. How can we leverage this inflection point to promote people and planet centric designs?

Communities and businesses face a variety of natural and manmade hazards, approaching resilience with different focuses. As buildings and infrastructure systems are foundational for supporting social and economic needs, many communities at the city and state levels have developed resilience plans (focusing on physical infrastructure) and taken actions to improve performance and recovery of their built environment.

Over 50% of the U.S. population lives within 50 miles of the coast. But as we’ve seen with recent storms, floodwaters can impact those well away from the ocean. If we don’t adapt existing infrastructure and carefully design new waterfront sites, millions of people will be subject to destruction and loss caused by extreme climatic events and sea level rise. Uninhabitable buildings will displace many, putting additional strain on an existing housing crisis.

Infrastructure is the foundational structure on which society is built. In practice, this simple definition often holds, as our infrastructure consists of complex networks of long-lasting and interconnected systems that serve specific place-based societal needs.

Session 1 - Fluid Viscous Dampers and Replaceable Structural Fuses: Improving Building Performance and Functional Recovery