For the people of the United States, the 20th century was one of unprecedented population growth, economic development, and improved quality of life. The critical infrastructure systems-water, wastewater, power, transportation, and telecommunications-built in the 20th century have become so much a part of modern life that they are taken for granted. By 2030, 60 million more Americans will expect these systems to deliver essential services. Large segments and components of the nation's critical infrastructure systems are now 50 to 100 years old, and their performance and condition are deteriorating. Improvements are clearly necessary. However, approaching infrastructure renewal by continuing to use the same processes, practices, technologies, and materials that were developed in the 20th century will likely yield the same results: increasing instances of service disruptions, higher operating and repair costs, and the possibility of catastrophic, cascading failures. If the nation is to meet some of the important challenges of the 21st century, a new paradigm for the renewal of critical infrastructure systems is needed. This book discusses the essential components of this new paradigm, and outlines a framework to ensure that ongoing activities, knowledge, and technologies can be aligned and leveraged to help meet multiple national objectives.

Sustainable and resilient critical infrastructure systems is an emerging paradigm in an evolving era of depleting assets in the midst of natural and man-made threats to provide a sustainable and high quality of life with optimized resources from social, economic, societal and environmental considerations. The increasing complexity and interconnectedness of civil and other interdependent infrastructure systems (electric power, energy, cyber-infrastructures, etc.) require inter- and multidisciplinary expertise required to engineer, monitor, and sustain these distributed large-scale complex adaptive infrastructure systems. This edited book is motivated by recent advances in simulation, modeling, sensing, communications/information, and intelligent and sustainable technologies that have resulted in the development of sophisticated methodologies and instruments to design, characterize, optimize, and evaluate critical infrastructure systems, their resilience, and their condition and the factors that cause their deterioration. Specific topics discussed in this book include, but are not limited to: optimal infrastructure investment allocation for sustainability, framework for manifestation of tacit critical infrastructure knowledge, interdependencies between energy and transportation systems for national long term planning, intelligent transportation infrastructure technologies, emergent research issues in infrastructure interdependence research, framework for assessing the resilience of infrastructure and economic systems, maintenance optimization for heterogeneous infrastructure systems, optimal emergency infrastructure inspection scheduling, and sustainable rehabilitation of deteriorated transportation infrastructure systems.

Environmental sustainability efforts require a great deal of engagement and political will, ranging from local communities to state departments. Science diplomats—from experts and scientists to spokespersons and ambassadors—can help facilitate at all levels and yield valued resources from technology sharing, capacity building, and knowledge exchanges. This book explores the importance of sustained international scientific cooperation, building community resilience, and the role of political will in sustainability and diplomacy. It shows how even small diplomatic efforts can influence myriad issues, from overfishing to human rights negotiations to global carbon emission reduction. Features: • Examines various topics such as global climate change, arid environments, water security and governance, trans-boundary conflict and cooperation, urban and rural resilience, and public health. • Presents case studies from various geographic regions through the lens of diplomacy, including the US–Mexico border, the Gulf of California, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Central and South Asia, and China. • Discusses how building networks of people, organizations, and countries engaged in science diplomacy is crucial for mutual growth and for overcoming conflicting political stances. Sustainable Development for the Americas: Science, Health and Engineering Policy and Diplomacy provides a useful resource for diplomats, policymakers, students, and decision-makers. It provides numerous examples of how using science and technology for policy and diplomacy is essential to finding common ground among nations for a collective global benefit.

Critical Infrastructure Resilience and Sustainability Reader Identify and protect critical infrastructure from a wide variety of threats In Critical Infrastructure Resilience and Sustainability Reader, Ted G. Lewis delivers a clear and compelling discussion of what infrastructure requires protection, how to protect it, and the consequences of failure. Through the book, you’ll examine the intersection of cybersecurity, climate change, and sustainability as you reconsider and reexamine the resilience of your infrastructure systems. The author walks you through how to conduct accurate risk assessments, make sound investment decisions, and justify your actions to senior executives. You’ll learn how to protect water supplies, energy pipelines, telecommunication stations, power grids, and a wide variety of computer networks, without getting into the weeds of highly technical mathematical models. Critical Infrastructure Resilience and Sustainability Reader also includes: A thorough introduction to the daunting challenges facing infrastructure and the professionals tasked with protecting it Comprehensive explorations of the proliferation of cyber threats, terrorism in the global West, climate change, and financial market volatility Practical discussions of a variety of infrastructure sectors, including how they work, how they’re regulated, and the threats they face Clear graphics, narrative guides, and a conversational style that makes the material easily accessible to non-technical readers Perfect for infrastructure security professionals and security engineering firms, Critical Infrastructure Resilience and Sustainability Reader will also benefit corporate security managers and directors, government actors and regulators, and policing agencies, emergency services, and first responders.

This text offers comprehensive and principled, yet practical, guidelines to critical infrastructures resilience. Extreme events and stresses, including those that may be unprecedented but are no longer surprising, have disproportionate effects on critical infrastructures and hence on communities, cities, and megaregions. Critical infrastructures include buildings and bridges, dams, levees, and sea walls, as well as power plants and chemical factories, besides lifeline networks such as multimodal transportation, power grids, communication, and water or wastewater. The growing interconnectedness of natural-built-human systems causes cascading infrastructure failures and necessitates simultaneous recovery. This text explores the new paradigm centered on the concept of resilience by approaching the challenges posed by globalization, climate change, and growing urbanization on critical infrastructures and key resources through the combination of policy and engineering perspectives. It identifies solutions that are scientifically credible, data driven, and sound in engineering principles while concurrently informed by and supportive of social and policy imperatives. Critical Infrastructures Resilience will be of interest to students of engineering and policy.