Cross-sector Interactions

RESEARCH OVERVIEW

Urban infrastructure systems are interdependent. Actions in one sector may have impacts and consequences-both positive and negative-in other sectors. For example, changes in water, energy and food sectors interact with each other, reflected in the water-energy-food nexus. Similarly, the urban mobility and transportation sector, alongside urban food system considerations (e.g. issues of diet, nutrition, and access) represent multiple sectors that can affect human health outcomes around obesity. It is important to understand not just critical infrastructure interdependency (e.g. electricity system failure cascading to transit system failure) but also resource linkages, such as the water-energy-nutrient nexus across food, water, wastewater & energy systems.

Understanding the interactions between and among infrastructure sectors is a critical component of understanding how to maximize positive societal outcomes in urban areas encompassing environmental sustainability, as well as human health and wellbeing. Understanding cross-sector interaction can help promote cross-sector solutions, in contrast to single sector solutions, that maximize the beneficial impact of infrastructure solutions and interventions.

While cross-sector interactions are important for understanding possible synergies and co-benefits (where multiple desired societal outcomes are supported at once), they can also lead to tradeoffs wherein actions in one sector to promote a desired outcome may diminish positive outcomes or generate negative outcomes in another sector. The network’s cross-sector research efforts are focused on understanding these interactions across sectors, with a particular emphasis on understanding co-benefits and tradeoffs