Sustainable infrastructure for resilient urban environments

The paper reports scholarly perspectives and progress to date of the research project on Sustainable Infrastructure for Resilient Urban Environments carried out by the authors at the University of Birmingham funded by European Commission 7th Framework programme during 2012-2014. The project aims to identify how the use of underground space and its physical infrastructure (PI) influence, interact with, and impact on sustainability, vulnerability and resilience of urban areas, both now and in the future. The project consists of four work packages: WP1 Investigating the role and requirements of Urban Underground Infrastructure (UUI); WP2 Developing a UUI framework for assessment of sustainability and resilience; WP3 Assessing strengths and vulnerabilities of present day UUI solutions; and WP4 Assessing UUI solutions for future resilience and sustainability. Through the use of case study cities this research is aggregating and generalizing data on urban areas and megacities, with the help of publicly and professionally available information on urban indicators provided by such bodies as World Bank and Eurostat. This paper aims to give an overview of the project, discussing research and methodological approaches in the following areas: urban indicators, urban environment - infrastructure interactions, assessment methods and techniques, quantitative data on UUI (e.g. volume, energy consumption), land use, urban future development scenarios. In addition the research addresses global issues relating to environmental change and climate specifically.