ICARIA: Enhancing Climate Resilience for Critical Infrastructure

The ICARIA project aims to improve our ability to manage climate change impacts on essential public infrastructure by developing advanced modelling tools. These tools are designed specifically to help decision-makers assess risks and choose effective adaptation strategies in urban regions facing increasing climate hazards, ensuring cities can better prepare for a changing future.

Keywords: Climate resilience, critical assets, multi-hazard events, asset-level modelling, Compound Events

Growing Risks to Urban Infrastructure
Our communities are experiencing an alarming increase in the frequency and intensity of natural disasters. This growing trend, driven by climate change, poses significant threats to complex urban areas where essential services rely heavily on critical infrastructure like water systems and energy networks. The potential consequences include service disruptions that impact citizens' daily lives or even trigger major catastrophes, highlighting an urgent need for cities to understand their vulnerability and plan effective responses. Ignoring these climate-related risks means failing to protect assets from immediate threats such as floods or heatwaves now occurring more frequently than before, which is crucial for ensuring the long-term safety and functionality of urban environments. ICARIA addresses this pressing challenge by focusing on how current infrastructure can be better protected in a world affected by rising environmental pressures.

Developing Tailored Asset-Level Risk Models
ICARIA employs a multi-faceted approach, centered on creating comprehensive asset-level modelling frameworks that allow stakeholders to assess climate resilience. These models quantify risks posed by natural hazards—such as floods and droughts—on specific infrastructure assets. By combining numerical modelling, data analysis, and expert insights, ICARIA generates detailed regional assessments. A unique “trial and mini-trial” strategy is implemented to test and refine models: large-scale trials in regions like Barcelona focus on flooding and storm surges, while mini-trials apply findings to distinct areas such as the South Asian archipelago. This iterative process ensures adaptability across diverse geographical contexts. To maintain practical relevance, ICARIA forms communities of practice within each case study region. These groups bring together researchers, policymakers, infrastructure operators, and civil society to collaboratively shape project outcomes through workshops and continuous engagement.

Delivering Practical Tools for Resilience
The project anticipates several key outcomes, including:

• The development of robust, asset-level models capable of quantifying climate risks across a range of hazards.
• Enhanced understanding of regional vulnerabilities and resilience strengths.
• Provision of actionable guidance and decision-support tools for policymakers and infrastructure managers.
• Strengthened collaboration and knowledge sharing among diverse stakeholders across regions.
• Improved resilience of critical assets, resulting in decreased economic losses, increased public safety, and more sustainable urban futures.

Unique Selling Proposition
ICARIA’s “trial and mini-trial” methodology uniquely allows for solutions tailored to regional specificities, fostering continuous improvement of its models. Its emphasis on stakeholder engagement through communities of practice ensures the tools remain practical and widely applicable, while encouraging collaborative knowledge exchange.

This article was generated with the support of artificial intelligence. While it has been reviewed and edited for clarity and accuracy, the primary content was generated by an AI tool.

Below is a selection of sources and tools that supported the creation of this article, including the original data it is based on, relevant project links, and the AI tool used in the writing process:

• The MAIA project
• MAIA Webinar: Advancing Climate Resilience in European Cities
• Project ICARIA
• Behind Our Posts: Method, Questions, and Insights