We work across four main branches
In order to help facilitate the widespread adoption of natural infrastructure practices across the United States, we’ve identified four main areas that need additional work:
Developing methods and standards
New tools, techniques and guidance are needed to effectively plan, design, construct and operate natural infrastructure at different scales
Assessing benefits and costs
Natural infrastructure provides communities with a broad array of economic, environmental and social benefits. Improved approaches are needed to evaluate, quantify and forecast these benefits to support planning and decision making
Monitoring performance and outcomes
Technically sound, efficient and applicable methods are needed to track natural infrastructure performance over time, develop the evidence base for future designs, ensure compliance with policy and inform project operations and adaptive management
Integrating people and policy
Providing infrastructure that supports human wellbeing and equitably meets the needs of diverse communities requires integration of human values, attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and policies with modern communication and collaboration practices
Combining a diversity of on-the-ground experience with interdisciplinary teams.

The NNI community is made up of over 30 partners from industry, academia and the non-profit sector.
What NNI’s been up to:
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Partner Podcasts: Resilience in the Past… and to the Future!
This month, our partners’ podcasts looked backwards and forwards at resilience practices! The Resilient Futures Podcast – Expect the Unexpected: Resilience and Life Advice from the Late Bronze Age On the Resilient Futures Podcast, produced by the University of Georgia’s Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems, hosts Alysha Helmrich and Todd Bridges welcomed anthropologist and historian…
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PhD in Review: Laura Naslund, UGA, reflects on her dissertation journey
Originally published here by The University of Georgia Institute for Resilient Infrastructure Systems. I first interviewed Laura Naslund as the sun rose over a pond near Watkinsville, Georgia in June of 2022. I was an intern at the River Basin Center helping with Naslund’s field work, and we had just finished two hours of paddling a canoe…
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Duke University hosts panel on sustainable infrastructure
At a recent symposium hosted by Duke University, experts from across academic, governance and NGO sectors exchanged ideas about accelerating sustainable infrastructure development. “I’d like to think that we’re entering a renaissance period in civil engineering with the opportunities that are before us,” said Todd Bridges, Professor of Practice in Resilient and Sustainable Systems at…
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