Climate change

Climate change poses huge challenges to the civil engineering domain. The projected increase of more extreme weather events (drought, heat stress, extreme rainfall) as well as flooding and sea level rise imply that we cannot continue “business as usual”. Adaptation to climate change through adjustment of the physical environment as well as mitigating climate change by moving towards more sustainable energy sources are key themes in research and education of the Construction Management & Engineering group. Various researchers of our group are closely involved in the DeSIRE programme and the Open Education Resources programme on Urban Resilience of the 4TU Centre for Resilience Engineering. Climate change is also explicitly dealt with the education that we deliver to Civil Engineering (& Management) students, such as, in the BSc Module 7 Area Development and in the MSc course Urban Resilience in a Changing Climate.  

Projects

Climate change is dealt with in relation to various research themes, such as, asphalt, infrastructure management, soil mechanics, structural health monitoring and underground. In addition, we are running various projects that focus on multi-actor processes in the climate change domain. The most relevant projects are: 

PILOT PROJECT DELTAPROGRAMME SPATIAL ADAPTATION

The initiative "Climate city Enschede: restoration of the Stadsbeek" is one of the pilot projects for the Deltaprogramme Spatial Adptation. As the project slogan "how water moves a city" points out, this project is not just about water and climate. Citizen engagement and empowerment has since the early phases of the project been of key importance. University of Twente researchers will evaluate the participatory approach of the project. In doing so, they will provide new insights in the relation between citizen engagement and widening of the project scope contribute to climate awareness and climate actions of citizens. For more information in Dutch, see: https://ruimtelijkeadaptatie.nl/ 

Regional Energy Transition as Systemic Integration (RETSI)

In the RETSI project, UT researches cooperate with refional partners to: (1) identify factors influencing energy transition integration potential in rural and urban contexts and their interface; and (2) design new action perspectives for private and public actors for exploiting synergies of energy transition in different contexts. This NWO-funded project (MARET call) is implemented in collaboration between 3 UT Faculties (ET, BMS and ITC). For more information in Dutch, see: https://www.nieuweenergieoverijssel.nl

Theme project "Critical Infrastructure"

In thi Deltares-led project, UT researchers cooperate with various consultancy companies to support regional governments in making decisions about improved protection of critical infrastructure against the projected impacts of climate change. UT contributed to a review of the state-of-the-art literature and conducted a governance assessment. This project is funded by the national government within the context of its water and climate programme for climate-resilient cities. More information, see https://waterenklimaat.nl

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