Defining Natural Infrastructure
Natural infrastructure (NI) uses natural processes and ecosystem services to support engineering objectives. This innovative approach to infrastructure planning has the potential to provide co-benefits to communities, ecosystems, and economies, and N-EWN partners are leading the charge on implementing NI to achieve these benefits.
Selected Publications:
Life cycle management of natural infrastructure: assessment of state of practice and current tools, Kurth et. al. 2024, Frontiers in Built Environment.
Jointly advancing infrastructure and biodiversity conservation, McKay et. al. 2023. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment.
Improving Natural Infrastructure Practice
Nature-based solutions (NbS) are a relatively new field of study and applications. N-EWN researchers are dedicated to figuring out the best way to implement NbS in engineering, environmental, and community settings.
Selected Publications:
Nature-based solutions as buffers against coastal compound flooding: Exploring potential framework for process-based modeling of hazard mitigation, Radfar et. al. 2024, Science of the Total Environment.
Evaluating thin-layer sediment placement as a tool for enhancing tidal marsh resilience: A coordinated experiment across eight US National Estuarine Research Reserves, Raposa et. al. 2023, Estuaries and Coasts.
Integrating People and Policy
We’re better together. N-EWN partners are working to make sure everyone has a seat at the table when we talk about nature-based solutions.
Infrastructure managers bear a responsibility for ensuring all members of a community are being fairly serves by infrastructure choices. To support sustainable solutions, managers need a clear and concise set of guidelines for incorporating social equity into project decision making.
Selected Publications:
Human well-being and natural infrastructure: assessing opportunities for equitable project planning and implementation, Kalaidijan et. al. 2024, Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.
Operationalizing equity for integrated water resources management, Seigerman et. al. 2022, Journal of the American Water Resources Association.
Bringing People Together
Nature-based Solutions Policy & Practice Forums
These annual in-person forums have been co-hosted with partners across the country, aiming to identify the policy and practice needs of the growing field of nature-based solutions. More information about each year’s forum below:
Knowledge Series
This monthly, public-facing webinar series features topics from across the field of engineering with nature knowledge. Continuing Education Credits (1-hr) are available to all attendees who join live. More information & registration link below:
More N-EWN Events
Special Topics
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March 2022 Knowledge Series: Refining a Vision for Future Synergy Between Infrastructure and Biodiversity Conservation
Charles van Rees, UGA This webinar focuses on the relationship between Biodiversity and its conservation and Infrastructure and related disciplines, why this is important for today’s challenges, what this relationship looks like, how it has changed, and what it will look like in the future. Dr. Charles B. van Rees addresses what we can do…
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N-EWN Biodiversity Retreat
This week, members of the Network for Engineering With Nature from both the Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems and USACE Engineering With Nature met at Amicalola Falls State Park for a discussion on the best ways to prioritize biodiversity in infrastructure planning. The interdisciplinary group included engineers, biologists, landscape architects, and ecologists, among others. Scroll…
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N-EWN Researchers Dive into the Link Between Infrastructure and Biodiversity
This week, Network for Engineering With Research scientists from the Army Corps of Engineers, Engineering With Nature Initiative, and the Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems, are meeting up virtually to explore the interplay between biodiversity and infrastructure. Traditionally, infrastructure is thought of as the “grey” structures such as bridges, highways, and pipes that support our…