Welcome to the homepage of the Climate Resilient Infrastructure Systems (CRIS) group. Recognizing the increase of extreme weather events, environmental degradation, and population growth, the CRIS group is committed to improving infrastructure sustainability and resilience. Inspired by systems thinking, we perceive civil infrastructure as complex systems where values such as safety, accessibility, and liveability increasingly rely on solutions that combine traditional structures with nature-based, community-led, or digital solutions. The implementation of these innovative solutions requires the rethinking of collaboration, organization, and project practices in the development and management of infrastructure assets.
Mission and vision
We are committed to delivering research, education, and knowledge valorisation activities that have a positive impact on the sustainability and resilience of civil infrastructure systems. To this end, we combine civil engineering knowledge and expertise with social and design sciences.
We collaborate closely with societal stakeholders and team up with researchers in impact-oriented networks such as the UT Climate Centre, UT DesignLab, 4TU Centre for Resilience Engineering, 4TU Built Environment, and Climate Initiative Netherlands. With our partners, we work towards the widespread implementation of integrative solutions for the built environment that benefit both the environment and society.
Research
Through our research, we aim to produce transformative, actionable knowledge for the civil engineering sector. We therefore value our long-lasting collaborations with the province, regional water authorities, and municipalities in Overijssel region. We combine research in the region with national, European, and international comparative research. Our research tends to be challenge-driven and often follows an abductive or design-oriented approach. We typically iterate between disciplinary and interdisciplinary theoretical concepts and frameworks, empirical research, and the development of integrative solutions. Our research portfolio focuses on water infrastructure and climate challenges, with particular attention for mainstreaming climate adaptation and energy transition, nature-based solutions, flood and drought resilience, and asset management in general.
Our research aims to generate new knowledge and insights about the following three topics:
- Multi-actor collaboration: the development and implementation of integrative solutions require cross-sector, multi-actor collaboration. We work on developing processes and practices that assist in navigating opportunities, tensions, and conflicts between actors of different sectors. Together with partners from practice, we co-create solutions that fuse practical experience with the latest scientific insights and empirical evidence.
- Knowledge co-production: addressing contemporary challenges demands the integration of knowledge from science, policy, and practice who represent diverse disciplines and sectors. We develop frameworks and guidelines for transdisciplinary collaboration, participatory resilience assessment, and co-creation processes in which citizens, professionals, and researchers decide on infrastructure interventions.
- System innovation: infrastructure systems are complex configurations of social, ecological, and technical elements. Gaining an understanding of the complexities and dynamics within and across infrastructure systems is key in developing sustainable, resilient solutions. We use concepts and methods rooted in systems thinking to better understand how sectoral, organizational, and project practices and routines need to change.
Education
Our teaching focuses on Civil Engineering education at the University of Twente. In the BSc Civil Engineering we provide management-oriented courses and guide students in applying concepts, approaches, and methods to complex real-world settings. In the MSc Civil Engineering & Management, we particularly contribute to courses focusing on climate-resilience, nature-based solutions, and transitions in civil engineering, and the coordination of and MSc thesis assignments in the Sustainability & Resilience specialisation. In our educational activities, we work closely with the other research groups in the Civil Engineering & Management department and with other UT faculties (ITC-PGM and BMS-CSTM).