Christopher Medland
Academic and research departments
Centre for Environment and Sustainability, School of Sustainability, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Institute for Sustainability.About
My research project
The effects of climate change on infrastructure resilience from the perspective of the household - How does infrastructural resilience across scales effect resilience at household scaleOverview
- research focuses on evaluating and forecasting infrastructure resilience at the site, community, district/county, and national level.
- Analysis considers five main infrastructure areas: utilities, public works, public transport, sanitation, and environmental infrastructure, and maps their specific relevance to each site.
- Specifically assessing 10 locations across West Sussex specifically because of the topographical variations and house building pressures.
Site-specific Infrastructure Mapping
- The site and the area around each site is mapped using relationship diagrams linking elements such as substations, sewage works, water supply, green infrastructure at weighted scales from local to national importance.
- Each infrastructure element, and vulnerability along with nodal points linked to responsible statutory bodies, and relevant government adaptation programmes.
Data Gathering on Infrastructure Performance
- For each site, gathering failure statistics, such as power outages and sewage works performance from 2021 official records (the date of the last census which some indicators utilise).
- Maintenance and upgrade plans for relevant infrastructure are assessed.
Assessment of Planned and Autonomous Adaptation
- Current government and local adaptation plans (e.g. upgrade works, desalination, new reservoirs) are documented and their projected effectiveness tracked.
- Autonomous adaptations like on-site photovoltaics or localised flood protection measures are considered based on the social-economic context of the location.
Evaluation of Design Thresholds and Standards
- For each infrastructure component, the original design standards and construction practices (e.g. Eurocodes for wind loading, building regs for structure) are assessed.
- A confidence weighting is assigned to account for gaps and potential over/under-build in legacy infrastructure.
Risk Analysis and Weighting
- Utilising the national Risk Register the study tracks 16 compounded risk factors—including flooding, overheating, wind impacts, drought, and more—against infrastructure adaptation at all scales.
- Tables and diagrams produced for each site are being refined to illustrate cross-network dependencies and vulnerability thresholds.
Engagement & Collaboration
- Invited participants have engaged in Expert Informant Interviews and given feedback relevant to their professional contexts.
- Have published in The Conversation, New Civil Engineer, UNDRR, Proceeding of the ICE, and presented at conferences.
- Open to potential collaboration to validate data, discuss practical challenges with real sites, and compare findings across regions.
Supervisors
Overview
- research focuses on evaluating and forecasting infrastructure resilience at the site, community, district/county, and national level.
- Analysis considers five main infrastructure areas: utilities, public works, public transport, sanitation, and environmental infrastructure, and maps their specific relevance to each site.
- Specifically assessing 10 locations across West Sussex specifically because of the topographical variations and house building pressures.
Site-specific Infrastructure Mapping
- The site and the area around each site is mapped using relationship diagrams linking elements such as substations, sewage works, water supply, green infrastructure at weighted scales from local to national importance.
- Each infrastructure element, and vulnerability along with nodal points linked to responsible statutory bodies, and relevant government adaptation programmes.
Data Gathering on Infrastructure Performance
- For each site, gathering failure statistics, such as power outages and sewage works performance from 2021 official records (the date of the last census which some indicators utilise).
- Maintenance and upgrade plans for relevant infrastructure are assessed.
Assessment of Planned and Autonomous Adaptation
- Current government and local adaptation plans (e.g. upgrade works, desalination, new reservoirs) are documented and their projected effectiveness tracked.
- Autonomous adaptations like on-site photovoltaics or localised flood protection measures are considered based on the social-economic context of the location.
Evaluation of Design Thresholds and Standards
- For each infrastructure component, the original design standards and construction practices (e.g. Eurocodes for wind loading, building regs for structure) are assessed.
- A confidence weighting is assigned to account for gaps and potential over/under-build in legacy infrastructure.
Risk Analysis and Weighting
- Utilising the national Risk Register the study tracks 16 compounded risk factors—including flooding, overheating, wind impacts, drought, and more—against infrastructure adaptation at all scales.
- Tables and diagrams produced for each site are being refined to illustrate cross-network dependencies and vulnerability thresholds.
Engagement & Collaboration
- Invited participants have engaged in Expert Informant Interviews and given feedback relevant to their professional contexts.
- Have published in The Conversation, New Civil Engineer, UNDRR, Proceeding of the ICE, and presented at conferences.
- Open to potential collaboration to validate data, discuss practical challenges with real sites, and compare findings across regions.
Affiliations and memberships
Business, industry and community links
Academic networks
News
In the media
ResearchResearch interests
Overview
- research focuses on evaluating and forecasting infrastructure resilience at the site, community, district/county, and national level.
- Analysis considers five main infrastructure areas: utilities, public works, public transport, sanitation, and environmental infrastructure, and maps their specific relevance to each site.
- Specifically assessing 10 locations across West Sussex specifically because of the topographical variations and house building pressures.
Site-specific Infrastructure Mapping
- The site and the area around each site is mapped using relationship diagrams linking elements such as substations, sewage works, water supply, green infrastructure at weighted scales from local to national importance.
- Each infrastructure element, and vulnerability along with nodal points linked to responsible statutory bodies, and relevant government adaptation programmes.
Data Gathering on Infrastructure Performance
- For each site, gathering failure statistics, such as power outages and sewage works performance from 2021 official records (the date of the last census which some indicators utilise).
- Maintenance and upgrade plans for relevant infrastructure are assessed.
Assessment of Planned and Autonomous Adaptation
- Current government and local adaptation plans (e.g. upgrade works, desalination, new reservoirs) are documented and their projected effectiveness tracked.
- Autonomous adaptations like on-site photovoltaics or localised flood protection measures are considered based on the social-economic context of the location.
Evaluation of Design Thresholds and Standards
- For each infrastructure component, the original design standards and construction practices (e.g. Eurocodes for wind loading, building regs for structure) are assessed.
- A confidence weighting is assigned to account for gaps and potential over/under-build in legacy infrastructure.
Risk Analysis and Weighting
- Utilising the national Risk Register the study tracks 16 compounded risk factors—including flooding, overheating, wind impacts, drought, and more—against infrastructure adaptation at all scales.
- Tables and diagrams produced for each site are being refined to illustrate cross-network dependencies and vulnerability thresholds.
Engagement & Collaboration
- Invited participants have engaged in Expert Informant Interviews and given feedback relevant to their professional contexts.
- Have published in The Conversation, New Civil Engineer, UNDRR, Proceeding of the ICE, and presented at conferences.
- Open to potential collaboration to validate data, discuss practical challenges with real sites, and compare findings across regions.
Research interests
Overview
- research focuses on evaluating and forecasting infrastructure resilience at the site, community, district/county, and national level.
- Analysis considers five main infrastructure areas: utilities, public works, public transport, sanitation, and environmental infrastructure, and maps their specific relevance to each site.
- Specifically assessing 10 locations across West Sussex specifically because of the topographical variations and house building pressures.
Site-specific Infrastructure Mapping
- The site and the area around each site is mapped using relationship diagrams linking elements such as substations, sewage works, water supply, green infrastructure at weighted scales from local to national importance.
- Each infrastructure element, and vulnerability along with nodal points linked to responsible statutory bodies, and relevant government adaptation programmes.
Data Gathering on Infrastructure Performance
- For each site, gathering failure statistics, such as power outages and sewage works performance from 2021 official records (the date of the last census which some indicators utilise).
- Maintenance and upgrade plans for relevant infrastructure are assessed.
Assessment of Planned and Autonomous Adaptation
- Current government and local adaptation plans (e.g. upgrade works, desalination, new reservoirs) are documented and their projected effectiveness tracked.
- Autonomous adaptations like on-site photovoltaics or localised flood protection measures are considered based on the social-economic context of the location.
Evaluation of Design Thresholds and Standards
- For each infrastructure component, the original design standards and construction practices (e.g. Eurocodes for wind loading, building regs for structure) are assessed.
- A confidence weighting is assigned to account for gaps and potential over/under-build in legacy infrastructure.
Risk Analysis and Weighting
- Utilising the national Risk Register the study tracks 16 compounded risk factors—including flooding, overheating, wind impacts, drought, and more—against infrastructure adaptation at all scales.
- Tables and diagrams produced for each site are being refined to illustrate cross-network dependencies and vulnerability thresholds.
Engagement & Collaboration
- Invited participants have engaged in Expert Informant Interviews and given feedback relevant to their professional contexts.
- Have published in The Conversation, New Civil Engineer, UNDRR, Proceeding of the ICE, and presented at conferences.
- Open to potential collaboration to validate data, discuss practical challenges with real sites, and compare findings across regions.
Publications
In view of the increased frequency and intensity of climate change-induced infrastructure failures there is an urgent need to adapt infrastructure to ensure continuous and reliable service provision. The UK’s vulnerability to climate change is becoming increasingly evident as the replacement and upgrading of economic infrastructure are progressing with a considerably slower pace. Hence, a holistic resilience assessment framework, that addresses the vulnerabilities of infrastructure to the hazards of climate exacerbated shocks and informs adaptation planning, is needed.
Inviting feedback from the conference, this paper investigates the challenges involved in establishing a place-based holistic resilience assessment framework, exploring the scope of infrastructure to be included, the need for a benchmark reference point, the indicators and metrics to be utilised, and outcome-driven forecasting output. The paper outlines the development and high-level exploratory testing of a novel framework designed to avoid abstraction and enable place-based resilience forecasting that will inform adaptation processes whilst preventing infrastructure overcapitalisation, resource overconsumption, or maladaptation