As climate change amplifies urban flooding, here’s how communities can become ‘sponge cities’

US cities are doing green infrastructure, but in bits and pieces. Today’s climate-driven floods require a much broader approach to create true sponge cities that are built to soak up water.

Franco Montalto, Professor of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering and Director, Sustainable Water Resource Engineering Laboratory, Drexel University • conversation
May 7, 2024 • ~12 min

Houston’s flood problems offer lessons for cities trying to adapt to a changing climate

Too much pavement and old drainage systems are just two of the problems communities face.

Richard B. (Ricky) Rood, Professor Emeritus of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, University of Michigan • conversation
May 5, 2024 • ~9 min

What cities everywhere can learn from the Houston area’s severe flooding as they try to adapt to climate change

Too much pavement and old drainage systems are just two of the problems communities face.

Richard B. (Ricky) Rood, Professor Emeritus of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, University of Michigan • conversation
May 5, 2024 • ~9 min

Houston area’s flood problems offer lessons for cities trying to adapt to a changing climate

Too much pavement and old drainage systems are just two of the problems communities face.

Richard B. (Ricky) Rood, Professor Emeritus of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, University of Michigan • conversation
May 5, 2024 • ~9 min

How trains linked rival port cities along the US East Coast into a cultural and economic megalopolis

Love it or hate it, the ‘Acela Corridor’ has developed a widely recognized identity thanks to the trains that link it together.

David Alff, Associate Professor of English, University at Buffalo • conversation
April 24, 2024 • ~9 min

The South’s aging water infrastructure is getting pounded by climate change – fixing it is also a struggle

Extreme downpours and droughts, both fueled by rising global temperatures, are taking a toll on water infrastructure. Communities trying to manage the threats face three big challenges.

Megan E. Heim LaFrombois, Associate Professor of Political Science; Director of Master of Community Planning Program, Auburn University • conversation
April 12, 2024 • ~9 min

Dali hit Key Bridge with the force of 66 heavy trucks at highway speed

A civil engineer lays out the physics behind Dali’s crash into the Francis Scott Key Bridge pier.

Amanda Bao, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering Technology, Environmental Management and Safety, Rochester Institute of Technology • conversation
April 8, 2024 • ~5 min

Coastal wetlands can’t keep pace with sea-level rise, and infrastructure is leaving them nowhere to go

A coastal scientist explains why marshes, mangroves and other wetlands can’t keep up with the effects of climate change, and how human infrastructure is making it harder for them to survive.

Randall W. Parkinson, Research Associate Professor in Coastal Geology, Florida International University • conversation
April 8, 2024 • ~8 min

Baltimore Key Bridge: how a domino effect brought it down in seconds

We’ll need to learn the lessons from this disaster.

Mohamed Shaheen, Lecturer in Structural Engineering, Loughborough University • conversation
March 28, 2024 • ~5 min

Thin, bacteria-coated fibers could lead to self-healing concrete that fills in its own cracks

Your skin heals from cuts and scrapes on its own − what if concrete could do that too?

Yaghoob Farnam, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, Drexel University • conversation
March 22, 2024 • ~7 min

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