Essential Knowledge Text No.20 Resilience

Climate change, urbanisation and increasing infrastructure interdependencies are creating new challenges for the built environment. Resilience introduces the principles of resilience and explains how structural engineers can contribute to safer, more adaptable and more sustainable communities.
Written for students, early-career engineers and practising engineers new to the subject, this Essential Knowledge Text provides a concise introduction to resilience concepts, the hazards affecting structures, and the practical design considerations that help improve performance before, during and after disruptive events.
 

Key features:

• Explains resilience in practical structural engineering terms rather than as an abstract management concept.

• Introduces the relationship between hazards, vulnerabilities, exposure and interdependencies.

• Covers the most significant hazards affecting structures, from wind, flooding and extreme heat to earthquakes, wildfire and blast events.

• Demonstrates where structural engineers can influence resilience through design decisions, detailing, material selection and adaptability.

• Provides practical guidance that can be applied immediately in everyday engineering practice.

Resilience is not about predicting every future event. It is about designing structures and systems that can withstand disruption, recover effectively and adapt as conditions change. This text provides a foundation for engineers who want to apply that mindset throughout the project lifecycle.
 

This book is for:

Students and early-career engineers

• Engineers developing an understanding of resilience and climate adaptation.
• Graduate and trainee engineers seeking an introduction to hazard-informed design.

Practising structural engineers

• Engineers looking to incorporate resilience thinking into project work.
• Designers seeking a concise overview of resilience-related hazards and vulnerabilities.
• ​Professionals who want to understand where resilience extends beyond minimum code compliance.

What you'll learn

• The meaning of resilience and how it differs from risk management.
• The four core properties of resilience: robustness, redundancy, resourcefulness and rapid recovery.
• How hazards such as wind, flooding, drought, wildfire, earthquakes and extreme heat affect structures.
• How vulnerabilities emerge in materials, details, systems and context.
• The importance of exposure and interdependencies in determining resilience outcomes.
• Practical steps for embedding resilience considerations into design and decision-making.