Countless communities ask themselves this question: After facing devastating flooding, fires, and wind, should they rebuild? 

If they do, can anything withstand a future natural disaster? Engineers, designers, policymakers, and citizens grapple with the question individually. Still, the future security of these communities depends on all of these groups working together, taking a systems-based approach to building a more resilient future. 

Jeff Albee, Vice President, Stantec

How to future-proof infrastructure is the question of this era, as communities across the country are being decimated by natural disasters. Fires in California earlier this year wiped out entire neighborhoods, while storms across the South and Midwest have uprooted towns in recent months. Every year, Florida and the Gulf Coast brace for increasingly volatile storms that batter the coastline and cost the state millions. More than 5,800 homes were totally displaced in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene. 

We’ve seen these communities continually rebuild simply by using stronger construction materials. Towns that are battered two or three times in one year by hurricanes keep turning to the same “stormproof” options, as a nationwide housing shortage makes the prospect of moving unappealing and, in some cases, impossible. 

While hurricane-proof windows and fire-resistant siding may help mitigate some of the impacts of these disasters, these solutions are only as strong as the latest storm and only address one part of the equation of rebuilding. Requirements for materials such as stucco and masonry also run up against sustainability standards that encourage the use of natural materials such as wood. 

Risky Business

The level of risk facing these communities is simply too high not to use every tool in the modern building arsenal—whether it’s data, technology, or policy—to build more resilient infrastructure. And more than likely, an effective multidisciplinary approach will require all three. 

But that’s not how communities are approaching their rebuilds right now. Today, decisions about how communities rebuild happen in isolation; rebuilding is a separate conversation from emergency response and from land use. One may involve flood sensors, another may involve computer modeling, and another may involve GIS mapping systems—all powerful tools, but limited when applied individually. 

In isolation, these tools only react and respond to storms as they’ve existed in the past; a town puts flood sensors where the riverbank has flooded previously, or mapping software is used to limit builds in historic danger zones. But as these disasters become more unpredictable, a systems-based approach can help communities see the future, beyond just what is likely to happen toward what could happen—and through the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence, see all the fall-on effects that those scenarios bring. 

A community may use high-tech sensors to detect when their roads flood. However, unless those sensors are partnered with advanced data modeling, policymakers and emergency responders will not understand the implications when those sensors go off. The sensor may indicate that it’s time to evacuate, but a computer model would warn responders that the evacuation route is at risk of being washed out.

Alone, these tools respond to what’s happened. Together, they respond to what could happen. 

No Silver Bullet

As much as we may be working towards disaster-proof infrastructure, there isn’t one solution that can solve everything. However, using multiple tools across multiple disciplines can inform planning while also mitigating the worst of a disaster’s impacts. 

Just look at how earthquake-prone regions manage risk. A country like Japan, for instance, sits on hundreds of fault lines but has been able to rebuild thanks to a systems way of thinking. Buildings are designed smarter, yes, but they’re also intended to reflect models of those fault lines. Sensors provide early warning signals that give schools and communities time to evacuate, while policymakers create zoning standards and practices that ensure a safer, more resilient community. It’s a national effort, not isolated to the coastal towns or major cities; these systems together create a safer nation.

The beauty of a systems approach is that it doesn’t mean existing programs become obsolete; instead, modern technology and engineering systems can be mapped on top of existing responses. Look at New Orleans who did integrated planning after Hurricane Katrina. Before the storm, the city had installed pumps to help control the flow of the Mississippi River in the event of a significant storm surge—which helped, but only to a point. When the city examined its storm response after the fact, it realized it needed to adjust its pump use, changing its pump rate ahead of a storm hitting based on current models.

It’s the key to future-proofing design: designing systems that can adapt to new scenarios and that can help predict how those scenarios play out. The great differentiator of the next 50 years will be between the communities whose leaders are willing to take a systems approach to emergency response and those who are not.

Everyone holds the keys to a safer, more resilient future—it’s not just the technologists, policymakers, or engineers who will be able to solve this problem, but all of these groups together. Only this collaborative effort will be able to redefine what it means to have prepared infrastructure and ensure that these communities have what it takes to overcome these coming storms. 

Jeff Albee is the Vice President and Director of Digital Solutions at Stantec.