Infrastructure: Opportunities from interdependencies

TLDR: This paper argues that interdependencies, that is dependencies outside the direct control of a product or service provider that are essential to the provision of the product orService, provide opportunities, from simple to integrative, which have the capacity to aid resilience and sustainable growth.

Abstract: The recognition and treatment of interdependencies at all scales between infrastructure systems range from ignorance to full substitution under the current paradigm of treating interdependencies as vulnerabilities which might compromise infrastructure resilience. Global interconnections have forced many infrastructure networks to function as a ‘system of systems’, which is at odds to their historical development and management as isolated industries and sectors. Efforts to understand the dynamics of this new complexity have remained predominantly focused on the risks and vulnerabilities presented by interdependencies between separate but functionally linked systems. This paper argues that interdependencies, that is dependencies outside the direct control of a product or service provider that are essential to the provision of the product or service, provide opportunities, from simple to integrative, which have the capacity to aid resilience and sustainable growth.