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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USACE and UC Santa Cruz Researchers Collaborate on NbS and Risk Management Recommendations
A new handbook reviewing risk management in nature-based solutions (NbS) evaluates connections between NbS, risk science and insurance, asserting that natural resources and NbS projects are undervalued in risk assessment. The authors call for further integration among these fields through interdisciplinary collaboration. The team identifies 15 recommendations to further integrate NbS into risk science and…
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Partner Profile: AECOM
AECOM is Making NBS a Reality Across the Globe As a full-service design, management, environmental, and energy company, AECOM has unique experience integrating Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) and equity into our programs. Our approach emphasizes social and environmental objectives, placing AECOM at the forefront of natural infrastructure and hybrid solutions. Partnering with the Network for Engineering with…
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Collaborating for change: Approaching nature-based solutions through an anthropologist’s eyes
Katie Foster, a research professional working at the University of Georgia in the Humans and Environmental Change Lab, has spent years examining how environmental governance and policy impacts communities. Her entire career has been shaped by meaningful collaborations across disciplines and sectors, and now she aims to build new partnerships to help others. After her undergraduate…
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