interdependent SYSTEMS
Understanding the link between infrastructure, local action and a regional response
Our team’s systems perspective on the dynamic nature of the Bay, and the interdependence between infrastructure, local action and a regional response is based on the research and insightful analysis of Mark Stacey. A key advisor to our team and expert in Bay Area resiliency, Mark Stacey is the Lawrence E. Peirano Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at UC Berkeley. Mark’s decades of research, and current focus on Bay Area dynamics, demonstrates how this interdependence can have larger effects on the region. Mark’s expertise and valuable insight can lead our inter-disciplinary team to identify thoughtful and effective solutions.
“To the degree that we can push towards a connection between the human land side and the Bay side, and instead of a division that separates – I think we’re going to have a much more positive interaction with the Bay.”
Local interventions with larger impact can be achieved many ways. For example, the improvement of the health and stability of the Bay ecosystem can have reverberating results and will be critically examined. We can also learn to change the community’s connection with the Bay through outreach and education to shift the culture around the evolving intersection of land, water and people. Rather than a futile attempt to stop sea level rise and other resiliency threats, we favor an interdependent approach where interventions work within the existing systems. We can also have lasting effects by making key assets of the region’s infrastructure more resilient and protecting vulnerable communities currently at the greatest risk. Vulnerability mapping will be multi-disciplinary and entail compilation of the most detailed, recent data on elevations, at-risk civil infrastructure, seismic zones, demographic clustering and at-risk communities.
