Nature-based Solutions for Increasing Infrastructure Resilience
Description
EU’s ecosystems are alarmingly degrading, thus increasing the impact of natural disasters and preventing from efficiently reaching carbon capture and storage goals. The Nature Restoration Law, recently adopted by the EU’s Council, is the first European-wide, comprehensive law aiming at restoring ecosystems, habitats and species in order to enable the long-term and sustained recovery of biodiverse and resilient nature, contribute to achieving the EU’s climate mitigation and climate adaptation objectives, and meet international commitments.
Civil engineering has a novel role to play in this context as for the first time in history, it is required to be implemented reversely: Instead of adjusting human life to the natural environment, the call is now to restore nature towards securing human life. While man-made systems’ resilience is discussed, promoted, and implemented for many years, there is obviously much more to be done, hence the need for immediate action and maybe a shift of paradigm regarding civil engineering research, education, and practice.
The scope of the Special Session is to discuss the whole spectrum for a more effective resilience engineering with the use of nature-based solutions. That said, contributions are welcome in the broad fields of research, education, and practice on the following specific topics:
- Impact of natural disasters and climate change on civil engineering works.
- Alignment of urban planning and execution of urban plans with nature-based solutions to increase resilience in multi-hazard environments.
- Civil engineering works design for resilience, disassembly, prefabrication, whole life care, and circularity of construction.
- Local authorities’ capabilities, requirements, and needs to address lifecycle engineering, disaster resilience measures and risks’ management.
- Sociotechnical systems and human factors in built environment systems.
- Exploitation of digital tools for effective lifecycle civil engineering.
- Professional and academic training in civil engineering for restoring nature.
Abstract Submission Deadline: 30 November 2025
Manuscript Submission Deadline: 1 March 2026