Across the nation, communities are taking action to build their resilience to extreme events. As communities look to achieve more efficient and effective disaster risk reduction, opportunities exist for design professionals to help them advance their efforts using innovative and forward-looking technologies. For example, new structural materials and systems are emerging that are smart, connected, adaptive, sustainable and that will perform in a predictable manner. The question is how to best connect these advancements with community resilience objectives, outcomes, and goals. On September 26, 2017, Resilient America and the Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in collaboration with the SEI/ASCE Advances in Information Technology Committee hosted the workshop, "The Role of Advanced Technologies in Structural Engineering for More Resilient Communities," that brought together representatives from the public, private, and academic sectors to explore the role that advanced technologies and design innovation could play in structural engineering and construction to promote more resilient communities as they prepare for the next hazard event and how to quickly recover afterwards.
This workshop:
- Explored the role of advanced technologies and structural performance data in existing infrastructure and built systems to enhance resilience and promote faster recovery;
- Discussed the future role of advanced technologies and design practice in promoting community resilience --what does a resilient city’s built infrastructure look like in the future? and,
- Identified research gaps or opportunities in development and use of advance technologies and design for building resilient infrastructure.
The purpose of this workshop was to bring together researchers, experts, practitioners, and noted leaders to look at the role of innovative technologies and smart infrastructure in building more resilient and sustainable communities and explore the following questions:
- How can advanced technologies and structural performance data in structural engineering support the design of infrastructure and built systems that enhance resilience and promote faster recovery?
- What are today’s most promising innovations in technology and how are communities benefiting?
- What is the future role of advanced technologies and design practice-- what does a resilient city’s built infrastructure look like in the future?
- What are the research gaps or opportunities in development and use of advance technologies and design for building resilient infrastructure?
Welcome
Setting the Stage
- Chris Poland, Consulting Engineer, "From Resilient Infrastructure to Resilient Communities: how can emerging technologies support community efforts to become resilient?" (watch Poland's presentation)
Enabling Community Resilience: Innovative Technologies in the Built Environment. (watch the panel session)
This panel explored several questions:
- What roles or functions do technologies and infrastructure play in a resilient community?
- How can infrastructure investments today ensure resilience in communities in the future and across the design life of the infrastructure?
- How can technologies and infrastructure be integrated into current systems and planning to build resilience?
Panelists
- Janice Barnes, Global Resilience Director, Perkins + Will, "Health Districts: Making Our Infrastructure Work Harder for Us"
- Reggie DesRoches, Dean of Rice University’s George R. Brown School of Engineering, "Development of a Rapid Post-Earthquake Situational Awareness Tool for California Bridges"
- Steve Moddemeyer, Principal, CollinsWoerman Architects, "Reducing the Misery by Accelerating Recovery"
Innovative Technologies: What are they now, what could they be in the future? (watch the panel session)
This panel explored two main questions:
- What is the vision for built infrastructure in resilient communities of the future? How can we better apply these technologies to benefit society?
- What is the “out of the box” thinking for the future? What does the next wave of research and design entail?
Panelists
- Oral Buyukozturk, Professor, MIT, "Designing for Resilience from Atoms to Structures"
- Maria Feng, Renwick Professor, Columbia University, "If Bridges Could Talk..."
- Daniel Hiller and Alex Stolz, Fraunhofer, "Innovative technologies to increase urban resilience – a German perspective"
- Jerome Lynch, Professor, University of Michigan, "Current and Future Innovative Technologies for Community Resiliency: A Michigan Perspective"
- Robert D. Moser, Senior Research Civil Engineer, Engineering Systems and Materials Division – Research Group, Geotechnical and Structures Laboratory, U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), "Innovation in DoD Infrastructure Systems: Diagnosis ? Prognosis ? Decision ? Solution"
Featured Speaker – How are cities thinking about the role of technologies and structural engineering for the future?
Visions of the Future: Enabling Design and Integration of Emerging Technologies. (watch the panel session)
This panel explored three questions:
- How could emerging technologies and innovations be integrated into the built environment? What are the potential challenges?
- How can decision makers build flexibility into their current decisions and initiatives to account for innovation and technological advances to come?
- How can decision makers, planners, and other stakeholders effectively use emerging technologies and innovations with current infrastructure projects and initiatives? And future ones?
Panelists
- Craig A. Davis, Trunk Line Design Manager and Seismic Manager, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
- David Mar, Partner, Mar Structural Design, "Design Choices are Performance Investments"
- Peter Marx, VP Advanced Concepts, GE Digital
Wrap-up Discussion: Where Are We & What's Next (watch the discussion)
- Farzad Naeim, President, Farzad Naeim, Inc.
- Ting Lin, Assistant Professor, Marquette University