The current recession reveals the complexity and vulnerability of the global networks in which we are embedded, from finance, to energy, to food.  But different places, towns and cities are experiencing the recession differently and varying in how they are faring. This can be thought of in terms of how resilient a place is.    

This project, partnered by British Waterways, will peel back the layers to the basic building blocks that make, shape and support places: physical infrastructure networks such as railways, waterways, routeways and sewers. The purpose will be to explore if and how these heritage networks can help make places more resilient and to understand better how such inherited assets can best be applied to current, emerging and future needs.

Resilience can be understood in terms of three core dimensions that cut across economic, environmental and social values:

1. How participative places are

2. How adaptive places are

3. How connected places are

Structured by these three dimensions, the project will investigate how the heritage infrastructure currently performs in terms contributing to making reslient places and what opportunities it might provide in the future.