Outsmarting Disaster With Infrastructure

UGA researchers combine natural and man-made infrastructure to help communities be more resilient.

To prepare a community for a flood, engineers design efficient, protective systems to divert and control water. But should that infrastructure take the form of concrete drainage systems, dams, and levees? Or swamps, reefs, and streams?

At the Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems (IRIS), University of Georgia scientists believe the choice isn’t either/or. Combining man-made and natural engineering solutions creates the most resilient communities.

Two people walk through a tunnel in shadow.

“By working at the intersection of designed natural systems and the built environment, we can make our infrastructure more resilient while generating numerous environmental, social, and economic benefits.”
Brian Bledsoe, Director, Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems, College of Engineering

Two women stand on the bank of a stream in tall grass.

Resilience Is More Than Resistance

Infrastructure systems for energy, stormwater, and transportation form “the backbone” of our society and economy, as IRIS director Brian Bledsoe puts it. When designing this infrastructure, engineers must consider how it will react to adverse weather and climate events like heavy rains and rising sea levels.

But designing infrastructure to resist a single event, like a bad storm, only solves a short-term problem. To build systems that enable communities to thrive despite ongoing severe weather, IRIS researchers strive for a higher standard of resilience.

“Resilience is about preparing for and bouncing back from adverse events like floods and hurricanes so that you are less vulnerable and better able to adapt and thrive in the future,” Bledsoe said.

Three people in casual clothing and tall boots stand in a stream with landing nets.

Combining Green, Blue, & Gray

To achieve resilience, Bledsoe and the IRIS team work to merge categories of infrastructure. Traditionally, “green” infrastructure includes parks and forests; streams are an example of “blue” infrastructure; and man-made systems, often made of concrete, are “gray.”

“Nature does a really good job all by itself in how it adapts to external conditions like storms and sea level rise,” Bledsoe said. Designing resilient infrastructure might involve “engineering features to mimic nature or using nature itself.”

IRIS’ flood solutions for Tybee Island, developed with funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, include rain gardens to reduce runoff and levees with living shorelines, for example. More recent IRIS research explores how red mangrove trees withstand storms, which can inform future infrastructural designs.

“By working at the intersection of designed natural systems and the built environment, we can make our infrastructure more resilient while generating numerous environmental, social, and economic benefits,” Bledsoe said. Those benefits include more beautiful, tourism-friendly greenspaces, healthier populations of economically important species, and more.

Improvements for a Resilient Future

As part of their investigation into our infrastructure needs and potential solutions, researchers at IRIS have:

examined wastewater and water system vulnerabilities, extreme heat in urban environments, and ways to protect our lakes and streams
proposed ways to reimagine insurance pricing systems
created models that clarify flood risks for homeowners

When taken together, these insights point the way forward for resilience improvements across Georgia and our nation. By drawing engineering inspiration from the natural world, the work at IRIS helps shore up our infrastructural security for generations to come.

A photo of the ocean with a bright, blue sky.