building a resilient people and planet
We’re working toward thriving communities, businesses and natural systems through natural infrastructure.
Right now the world has big questions about resilience in the face of natural disaster, and we’re working to answer them through innovative, interdisciplinary projects.
- What are the hidden benefits of natural infrastructure, and how do we properly value them?
- What are the political and social barriers to implementing natural infrastructure around the USA?
- What factors make communities more or less resilient? How does natural infrastructure impact resilience?
- How do we most accurately predict flood impacts?
- Do natural infrastructure solutions actually benefit biodiversity?
Want to help us answer these pressing questions and make natural infrastructure solutions a reality on the landscape? Donate here.
resilience planning
Often, disaster planning includes reacting when things go wrong. But many communities are seeking proactive changes that they can make to help increase their resilience when natural disaster strikes. IRIS researchers work with communities around the world to help them enact changes that will build resilience for the long term.
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Helping those who need it most
The benefits provided by infrastructure projects are not always distributed evenly across time, space, or communities. Simultaneously, natural disasters can have outsized impacts on the folks who need help the most. Natural infrastructure can help narrow the gap by providing important resilience and social benefits to communities.
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NATURE AND SECURITY
With natural disasters on the rise, defense programs throughout the United States are investing in collaborations that will allow them to better understand and address the ways that extreme weather and other hazards could impact missions. The Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems provides comprehensive resilience planning for bases and communities around the country.
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Coming Soon: Multi-Objective Culverts
Coming Soon: Savannah MPO
BIODIVERSITY and ecology
Nature is humanity’s most foundational infrastructure, providing the air we breathe and water we drink, alongside many other benefits. For resilient humans, we require resilient ecosystems.
We translate our expertise in ecology into nature-positive design. Biodiversity is an essential aspect of the natural environment, but one that has historically been undervalued and poorly conserved. We propose a fundamental shift in approach: biodiversity conservation and enhancement as a broadly-integrated research topic beyond environmental science.
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evaluating risks and benefits
It can be difficult to directly compare the costs and benefits of natural infrastructure to conventional infrastructure, and the issue of comparing “apples to oranges” is one of the most significant barriers to natural infrastructure implementation. However, finding ways to properly value the benefits natural systems provide is essential in ensuring that future infrastructure projects best serve communities.
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Help us answer the world’s most pressing questions about resilience in the face of natural hazards:
