A lot is riding on infrastructures like water, mobility, energy, or communications, as we heavily rely on these for our basic needs. Infrastructures are also under high pressure to meet changing social, technical and ecological demands, while they are usually very resistant to change. The TRAFIS project looked into the innovative potential of coupled infrastructure systems, such as heat grids that use server heat, and how these can be mobilised. All the TRAFIS reports are now online (with English summaries).
Research aims
Our central research objective was to explore how transformations towards climate resilient and sustainable infrastructures could be intentionally facilitated (e.g. how/by whom can niches be supported). We focused on examples of coupled infrastructures and analyse their (un-)desirable impacts and side-effects (e.g. in relation to resource efficiency, emissions reductions, climate resilience). We additionally sought to uncover factors that influenced infrastructure transformations and derived insights for supporting the change processes towards desirable directions – with a focus on the German federal level.
Due to the complexity involved in transformations towards climate-resilient and sustainable infrastructure systems and the explorative character of this type of research, we were also engage in action-oriented research to support on-going infrastructure projects through transition management.
