Resilient Futures Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Introducing Dr. Brian Bledsoe, Director of the Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems, professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Georgia and farmer, guitar player, and dad (not in that order.)

Our hosts Alysha Helmrich and Todd Bridges join Bledsoe in reviewing his lifelong commitment to research and interdisciplinary collaboration. His career has largely focused on river management and hydrology, leading him to work not just with engineers but ecologists, economists, geologists, lawyers and more. When he proposed a new institute at UGA focusing on natural solutions for infrastructure problems, he found a large community of interest that confirmed just how critical interdisciplinary expertise was for resilience.

Bledsoe described the "tremendous potential" nature-based solutions have to change how we approach development. His own mission in the movement is "to act as a connector of people who are committed to rethinking infrastructure." IRIS itself is meant to adapt to needs of the researchers, stakeholders and students that comprise it, but Bledsoe hopes that the institute can act as a lighthouse for natural infrastructure solutions.

He explains how IRIS is promoting this work for their large community of students and partners, and calls on practitioners of the IRIS mission to be "relentless listeners," sharing knowledge while learning from others. Listen now to learn more about IRIS's ongoing work on nature-based solutions!


Brian's poems:

When in doubt,
Don’t just build it stout-
Spread it out!

Bend, don’t break
Hard and strong will fail
Green sapling.


Dr. Brian Bledsoe, UGA IRIS: https://iris.uga.edu/iris-people/brian-bledsoe-p-e/

Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems: https://iris.uga.edu/

IRIS's new Natural Infrastructure Certificate: https://iris.uga.edu/natural-infrastructure-certificate/

ASCE's statement on NbS: https://www.asce.org/advocacy/policy-statements/ps575---nature-based-solutions

IRIS's NbS Job Board: https://iris.uga.edu/the-iris-job-board/

Check out this past episode that also discusses interdisciplinary resilience:
https://iris.uga.edu/2023/11/15/resilient-futures-podcast-episode-2-promoting-resilience-interdisciplinary-expertise-and-collaboration/

This month, our host Alysha Helmrich and her guest Lynn Abdouni are coming to you live from halfway across the world.

This pair of UGA engineering professors recently visited Doha, Qatar for a meeting about the Proactive Resilience Plan (PReP), a collaboration between UGA, Texas A&M, and the Qatar Foundation. During their trip, they took a moment to chat about urban morphology: "the study of the buildings, the streets, and the spaces in between them."

"We're talking about the urban fabric- it's alive," Dr. Abdouni said. "The streets are for walking, but they're also for meandering to shop, for having impromptu conversations, for chasing after pigeons- whatever you want to do, it's for multiple uses."

Abdouni's interest in this topic started early. She grew up in a semi-rural area of a postwar Lebanon, and noticing where features like sidewalks were (or weren't) placed inspired her to connect to places through urban design. By designing public spaces with humans in mind, we can foster personal connections to place and more flexible, long-lasting cities.

"I'm obsessed with anything mundane and boring- gas stations, take me there; parking lots, I love them- anything boring," she said. "You take some of these mundane places where we spend a lot of time, and you start thinking about them as, 'what else could this be?'"

Listen now to hear all the thoughts, feelings, and even some controversial takes on urban design, such as the correct parking-spots-per-bowling-lane ratio and why the San Antonio Riverwalk is the best riverwalk.

Lynn's Haiku (co-authored by Alysha):

Flex the space, anew
Human is the center, now:
Past, future, combined.


Lynn's other poem, "Urban Morphology: A Checklist":

Urban morphology, a checklist:
Flex,
humanize,
imagine.


Links:

Dr. Lynn Abdouni: https://engineering.uga.edu/team_member/lynn-abdouni/

Dr. Abdouni's new publication, "Bridging the Gap: Morphological Mapping of the Beqaa’s Vernacular Built Environment": https://cpcl.unibo.it/article/view/16887/17779

Read more about the Proactive Resilience Plan (PReP): https://research.uga.edu/research-insights/proactive-resilience-plan-prep-an-integrated-framework-applied-to-critical-economic-sectors-bjorn-birgisson/

Urban green infrastructure has the ability to make cities more sustainable. However, the exact implementation of green infrastructure and the choices that must be made during implementation are still topics for discussion. Recently, the Consolidated Urban Green Infrastructure Classification (CUGIC) was published as a tool to help policymakers, practitioners and researchers assess the state of their urban green infrastructure relevant to urban biodiversity, human well-being, and ecosystem services. In this podcast, Joeri Morpurgo (Leiden University), Dirk Voets (Head remote sensing, Cobra-Groeninzicht), Ciska van Alphen (Policy officer, Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality), and Jacco Schuurkamp (Senior policy officer, Municipality The Hague) discuss the challenges and opportunities for implementing green infrastructure and how CUGIC helps!

Follow our guests on Twitter!
@DirkVoets, @JoeriMorpurgo @UniLeidenNews and @MultiGreen3.

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If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at futurecitiespodcast@gmail.com or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod. Learn more about the NATURA project at natura-net.org.

On this month's episode of the Future Cities Podcast, Dr. Alysha Helmrich hosts Dr. Virginia Smith, who explores the future of urban hydrology. She covers a lot of ground! From the magnitude of flood impacts, the differences between hydrology and urban hydrology, the stakeholders in urban flooding, data collection and management for stormwater, integration of AI in stormwater management, and social vulnerability and equity. Tune in to hear all the details!

Of note, Virginia is hiring students! You can reach out directly via email or apply online at: https://www1.villanova.edu/university/engineering/faculty-research/Resilient-Water-Systems.html

Relevant Links to Research Articles:

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1038/s41598-020-65232-5.pdf

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1752-1688.12656

https://ascelibrary.org/doi/full/10.1061/JSWBAY.0000945

https://ascelibrary.org/doi/full/10.1061/JSWBAY.0000958

https://ascelibrary.org/doi/abs/10.1061/JSWBAY.0000986

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-23214-9

Follow our guest on Twitter!
@VCRWSteam

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If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at futurecitiespodcast@gmail.com or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod. Learn more about the NATURA project at natura-net.org.

On this month's episode of the Future Cities podcast, Alysha Helmrich interviews her colleague, Katherine (Kat) Shayne. Kat Shayne is the CEO of Can I Recycle This? (CIRT). A start-up homed in Athens, GA that helps cities, counties, businesses, and individuals properly dispose of products. Kat shares her own journey in sustainability that led her to creating CIRT and describes CIRT's mission and goals. You can learn more about CIRT at www.cirt.tech. You can also learn more about the Circularity Informatics Lab at https://www.circularityinformatics.org/.

Follow our guest on Twitter!
@CanIRecycleThis
@KatherineShayne

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If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at futurecitiespodcast@gmail.com or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod. Learn more about the NATURA project at natura-net.org.

Dr. Catherine de Rivera leads a conversation with Carole Hardy and Eric Butler.  They dive into the social, ecological, and technological aspects of connectivity with an emphasis on the benefits of ecological connectivity. This podcast is rooted in work co-produced with researchers and practitioners from Portland, Oregon. This episode also features Sahan T. M. Dissanayake, Leslie Bliss-Ketchum, Jennifer Karps, and Lori Hennings. 

Referenced Articles:
Butler 2022
Hardy 2022

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If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at futurecitiespodcast@gmail.com or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod. Learn more about the NATURA project at natura-net.org.

Dynamic Criticality is the idea that organizations must constantly reform their priorities in the face of volatile environments to maintain an adaptive state. Infrastructure research has yet to identify competencies that might aid infrastructure organizations in achieving dynamic criticality. Ryan Hoff discusses how competencies from other organizations can inform how infrastructure managers can better prepare their organizations to shift priorities in the face of disturbances.

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Suggested Readings:
Dynamic Criticality article
Susan Clark’s work
Mikhail Chester’s governance work
Mikhail Chester’s autopoiesis work
Book rec: The Black Swan by Taleb

Follow our guest on Twitter: @RyanMHoff

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If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at futurecitiespodcast@gmail.com or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod. Learn more about the NATURA project at natura-net.org.

Pervasive across infrastructure literature and discourse are the concepts of centralized, decentralized, and distributed systems, and there appears to be growing interest in how these configurations support or hinder adaptive and transformative capacities towards resilience. There does not appear to be a concerted effort to align how these concepts are used, and what different configurations mean for infrastructure systems. This is problematic because how infrastructure are structured and governed directly affects their capabilities to respond to increasing complexity. Dr. Alysha Helmrich recommends a multi-dimensional framing of de/centralization through a network-governance perspective where capabilities to shift between stability and instability are paramount and information is a critical mediator.

Articles:
De/centralization - https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2634-4505/ac0a4f
Leadership - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2022.791474/full

Follow our guest on Twitter: @AlyshaHelmrich

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If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at futurecitiespodcast@gmail.com or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod. Learn more about the NATURA project at natura-net.org.

Dr. Christina H. Fuller shares her work on environmental health and justice, particularly examining how air quality varies down to a block-level across communities. She provides insights on conducting participatory research within frontline communities and advocating for more inclusive environmental justice research. Dr. Fuller also discusses her diverse work experiences from industry, non-profits, consulting, and academia.

Follow our guest on Twitter: @DrCHFuller

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If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at futurecitiespodcast@gmail.com or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod. Learn more about the NATURA project at natura-net.org.

Dr. Mikhail Chester hosts Dr. Stephanie Pincetl, whose work engages a multitude of disciplines (from engineers to urban planners to economists) to advance urban sustainability science and decision-making for water, energy, transportation, and land use systems. She explores how understanding and synthesizing these diverse systems surrounding our complex urban systems opens opportunities for future alternatives.

This episode is part of a continuing series: Infrastructure and the Anthropocene Forum.

Follow our hosts:
Dr. Mikhail Chester (@mikhailchester)
Dr. Stephanie Pincetl (@SPincetl)

Recommended Readings:
Transforming California: A Political History of Land Use and Development
The Nutmeg's Curse
Envisioning Real Utopias
Designs for the Pluriverse

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If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for future episodes, e-mail us at futurecitiespodcast@gmail.com or find us on Twitter @FutureCitiesPod. Learn more about the NATURA project at natura-net.org.