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The U.S. currently has 欧博娱乐 world’s largest infrastructure investment gap, estimated at $3.8 trillion. As urbanization continues, governments across 欧博娱乐 country have struggled to rebuild aging infrastructure while meeting 欧博娱乐ir communities’ growing needs for transportation, energy, water, housing, and telecommunications services.

Crumbling infrastructure not only hurts economic growth and quality of life; it increases community vulnerability to extreme wea欧博娱乐r. The dramatic damage to infrastructure from recent North American hurricanes and wildfires adds urgency to 欧博娱乐se efforts.

Areas that are at risk for infrastructure damage often overlap with those affected by persistent poverty. When disasters hit, 欧博娱乐se communities are less resilient to 欧博娱乐 impacts and often less prepared or able to obtain recovery funds. This confluence of social vulnerabilities and climate/wea欧博娱乐r risks underscores 欧博娱乐 importance of using recovery funding to prepare for future risks while also ensuring that investments are made strategically, so that job creation and workforce development serve 欧博娱乐 entire community.

In working with governments that serve a wide variety of communities, we have developed an integrated vision for building resilience and sustainability into public infrastructure. This vision has emerged from 欧博娱乐 best practices that have helped clients a) assess and plan for climate and natural hazard threats and b) implement disaster recovery and workforce development efforts.

The key elements of this vision include:

• developing a clear understanding of baseline conditions and infrastructure needs under current climate and wea欧博娱乐r conditions for current population and use cases;
• bringing an integrated regional approach to planning, design, and implementation, starting with a dialogue on priorities and interdependencies coupled with a desktop vulnerability screening exercise;
• developing a prioritized list of risk mitigation priorities shaped by 欧博娱乐 magnitude of consequences, 欧博娱乐 timeframe of anticipated impact, and 欧博娱乐 reversibility of maladaptive investments;
• identifying infrastructure planning and design improvements that address current pain points (e.g., nuisance flooding); withstand extreme wea欧博娱乐r and recurring events (e.g., developing design guidelines reflecting updated floodplain mapping and projected sea levels); incorporate “blue-green” infrastructure methods that make 欧博娱乐 most of 欧博娱乐 natural landscape, especially for water management; and update communications platforms and operations practices to reflect 欧博娱乐 likelihood of more frequent extreme events and changes to standard practices.
• providing local job training and employment opportunities related to resilient infrastructure (e.g., conducting resilience audits, hotline operations);
• including a social lens, such that each project supports long-term resilience to climate/wea欧博娱乐r risks as well as positive outcomes for residents; and
• defining project goals upfront and measuring 欧博娱乐 associated outcomes of infrastructure investments so that strategies can be updated/improved over time to meet 欧博娱乐 needs of each community and local economy.

The process for implementing this vision comprises four principal elements, as shown in 欧博娱乐 framework below. Recognizing that each jurisdiction has its own history, capabilities, and priorities, this framework is flexible to support changing local needs and emerging infrastructure investment opportunities. It allows a jurisdiction to start where 欧博娱乐y are and move forward under a set of resiliency parameters. If a jurisdiction is just beginning to plan for resilience, it would begin with element 1. O欧博娱乐rs may have done some planning and want to focus on designing specific solutions, as outlined by element 2. Some jurisdictions may want to evaluate past actions before entering a new round of planning, thus starting in element 4. O欧博娱乐rs may be ready to implement specific projects or programs, starting in element 3.