Get to know N-EWN
A community of researchers, practitioners, and educators working together to advance the practice of natural infrastructure.
We work across four main branches
In order to help facilitate the widespread adoption of natural infrastructure practices across the United States, we’ve identified four main areas that need additional work:
Developing methods and standards
New tools, techniques and guidance are needed to effectively plan, design, construct and operate natural infrastructure at different scales
Assessing benefits and costs
Natural infrastructure provides communities with a broad array of economic, environmental and social benefits. Improved approaches are needed to evaluate, quantify and forecast these benefits to support planning and decision making
Monitoring performance and outcomes
Technically sound, efficient and applicable methods are needed to track natural infrastructure performance over time, develop the evidence base for future designs, ensure compliance with policy and inform project operations and adaptive management
Integrating people and policy
Providing infrastructure that supports human wellbeing and equitably meets the needs of diverse communities requires integration of human values, attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and policies with modern communication and collaboration practices
Combining a diversity of on-the-ground experience with interdisciplinary teams.
The N-EWN community is made up of over 30 partners from industry, academia and the non-profit sector.
What N-EWN’s been up to:
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Partner Takeover: San Antonio River Authority
What if infrastructure looked like art? At the confluence of two creeks in downtown San Antonio, the San Antonio River Authority has unveiled Falling Water, a striking new installation by nationally recognized artist Mark Reigelman. More than just a sculpture, the project is actively working to protect the San Antonio River. Installed along San Pedro…
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August 2025 Knowledge Series: Life Depends on Rivers: Building a Movement to Protect and Restore America’s Rivers
Jenny Hoffner and Eileen Shader, CFM, American Rivers Rivers are essential to all life on earth, but our rivers are at risk as never before from climate change, pollution, drought, flooding, and loss of natural habitat. American Rivers is championing a national effort to protect and restore all rivers, from remote mountain streams to urban…
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AECOM’s Nature-Based Solutions: Empowering People and Nature to Thrive
Nature-based solutions harness the power of ecosystems to drive resilience, biodiversity, and sustainable outcomes. With over half of the world’s GDP dependent on healthy natural systems—and an estimated $700 billion per year needed to halt species and ecosystem loss—these solutions integrate ecological processes into the way we plan, design, and build. Nature-based approaches address climate…
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