Leadership Required: Civil Engineers and Resilient Infrastructure

2020 ◽  
Vol 90 (2) ◽  
pp. 48-59
Author(s):  
Laurie A. Shuster
2020 ◽  
Vol 90 (4) ◽  
pp. 54-63
Author(s):  
Robert L. Reid ◽  
Laurie A. Shuster
Keyword(s):  

Author(s):  
Stephane Hallegatte ◽  
Jun Rentschler ◽  
Julie Rozenberg

1984 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 51-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Knoester ◽  
J Visser ◽  
B A Bannink ◽  
C J Colijn ◽  
W P A Broeders

In the planning of the Delta-works, carried out in the Southwestern Netherlands, the Eastern Scheldt was the largest and therefore last tidal basin to be fully closed mainly to protect the area from floods. Increased recognition for the natural value of estuaries and a strong lobby from nature conservationists and shellfish producers led to a reconsideration of original plans, confirmed by a series of governmental decisions. Per consequence execution of the present plans will result in a storm-surge barrier at the entrance of the tidal basin together with two partitioning dams, separating the (reduced) tidal Eastern Scheldt from a new freshwater lake. Attention is paid to the present values in the Eastern Scheldt and briefly to changes involved by the project. The decisionmaking process is described and discussed: In the course of the project the majority of decisions taken were prepared by teams of ecologists, civil engineers, hydrologists and financial experts using policy-analysis methods. For guidance of developments in the influenced area the local government accepted a policy plan, in which human uses are regulated. Operations of the barrier are designed such that safety from flooding is guaranteed, while adverse effects for the tidal ecosystems are minimized.


Author(s):  
Olinda Elizabeth Caicedo Arévalo ◽  
Beatriz Zumalacárregui de Cárdenas ◽  
Juan Manuel Labadié Suárez ◽  
María Rodríguez Gámez

The Civil Engineering course teaches different subjects in its academic program, which has in their educational task to offer knowledge to students, their intervention in the environmental space, within the framework of their actions as future civil engineers. The objective of the research is to reflect on the knowledge acquired in the environmental training of students of the civil engineering career. For this purpose, the standardized survey technique was used with structured questions that collected the work of the educational program of the race and was applied to 75 students of the different levels. The result obtained allowed to know to what extent the environmental training of students, has repercussions on the preparation of future civil engineers, in addition to the degree of concern for environmental problems and the predisposition to work in order to reduce the impacts derived from the professional practice of The Civil Engineering, taking into account the implication of the sustainable development in the academic formation. During the investigation it was verified that students are aware of the importance of preservation and respect for nature through the use of clean energies, where they have expressed concern about contamination and depletion of natural resources. The results obtained can have a positive influence on the constructive future of the province, depending on the implementation of an appropriate sustainable development policy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Gavin Smith ◽  
Olivia Vila

This article describes the findings of a national survey of State Hazard Mitigation Officers (SHMOs) in U.S. states and territories in order to gain a greater understanding of the roles that they play in assisting local governments to build the capacity required to successfully develop and implement Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)-funded Hazard Mitigation Assistance (HMA) grants, an important but understudied aspect of hazard mitigation governance. The research questions focus on: (1) How states and territories enable local governments to develop and implement HMA grants and (2) SHMOs’ opinions regarding their perceived capacity and effectiveness in assisting local governments to develop and implement HMA grants. Results show that while states and territories are relatively well-equipped to perform general administrative duties required by FEMA, SHMOs expressed wide variation in their capacity to assist local governments to develop and implement HMA grants. This was particularly evident with regard to the delivery of specific technical assistance measures required to develop HMA grants. Survey responses also highlight modest levels of participation in FEMA-designed efforts to delegate responsibility to states and territories and low levels of participation in programs that offer pre-application funding to local governments to help them develop HMA grant applications. These findings should concern FEMA as the agency embarks on the implementation of the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program, an ambitious pre-disaster hazard mitigation grant initiative.


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