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Designing for stronger infrastructure

Whole of Society Critical Infrastructure Project Integrating risk management to design for a stronger tomorrow

We're on a mission to use research to build partnerships, better manage risk and share information. These reports connect to our Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) goals of improving The City's risk maturity. It showcases the work of all involved partners, Design Lab participants, and key identified Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) for additional feedback.

This ongoing project aims to improve risk capabilities and share how to use the strategies and tactics applied in a cross-disciplinary forum with diverse partners.

Background

In 2019, Public Safety Canada worked alongside the Calgary Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) to develop and release a plan to protect important services in Calgary. They worked with different groups like public, private, and community organizations. The plan looked at ten key areas: Energy, Water, Food, Transportation, Health, IT/Communications, Government, Finance, Safety, and Manufacturing.

For this project, we're working with community partners to focus on four main Critical Infrastructure areas. Click on each section to learn more:

Food resilience

Food resilience

Food resilience

To be completed Q2 2025

This sector involves all infrastructure, people and processes associated with providing food to communities. Due to the manufacturing strategies of most companies involving international partnerships, a great deal of food for most must be imported from various jurisdictions.

Examples of Critical Infrastructure Sector Functions: Grocery Stores, Food Hamper Programs, Food Pantry/Fridges, Schools with Food Programs…etc.

Key dependencies: Transportation, IT/Communications, Water, & Energy

Key dependents: Safety, Social Infrastructure

Key Partners: Food Resilience Team, Climate & Environment, Customer Services & Communications, Resilience, Performance Measures and Budgets, Urban Alliance and The University of Calgary

Sector Review Completion Timeframe: Q2, 2025

See the first Design lab report

Transportation

Transportation

Transportation

To be completed Q4 2025

This sector encompasses the infrastructure, people and processes associated with enabling transportation locally, regionally and nationally. 

Examples of Critical Infrastructure Sector Functions: Public Transit Infrastructure Rolling Brownouts.

 

Key dependencies: IT/Communications & Energy

 

Key dependents: Health, Safety, Food

 

Sector Review Completion Timeframe: Q4, 2025

Water

Water

Water

This sector is composed of the infrastructure, people and processes associated with the management, treatment and distribution of water. 

Examples of Critical Infrastructure Sector Functions: Water Supply (distribution, treatment, storage), Potable or drinking water supply (storage, treatment, distribution), Wastewater Removal, Flood risk monitoring

Key dependencies: Transportation, IT/Communications, & Energy   Critical Infrastructure Defining the sectors   Public Safety Canada. (2018). Multi-Sector Network Interdependencies Workshop – Findings Report. Critical Infrastructure Directorate.

Key dependents: Health, Safety, Social Infrastructure, Food, Manufacturing

Sector Review Completion Timeframe: TBD (2026)

Energy & utilities

Energy & utilities

Energy & utilities

This sector involves the infrastructure, people and processes associated with providing power to our homes, infrastructure and various modern technologies both within our borders and abroad.  

Examples of Critical Infrastructure Sector Functions: Wastewater Recovery for Energy Generation and Distribution, Electricity, Infrastructure Prioritization…etc.

Key dependencies: IT/Communications & Transportation

Key dependents: Health, IT/Communications, Transportation, Water, Safety

Sector Review Completion Timeframe: TBD (2027)

If you would like to learn more about the project please refer to the Project Overview Q&A.

Vision & Outcomes

The Risk Implementation Skills Collective (RISC) project helps local service operators learn about risk and how to manage them. The goal is to help advance The City's overall Risk Maturity. It measures risk maturity using the RIMS Risk Maturity model which considers five pillars:

  • Strategy
  • Culture
  • Capabilities
  • Governance
  • Analytics

The three main goals of this project are:

  1. To build partnerships (Strategic pillar).
  2. To use risk management for all types of hazards (Culture pillar).
  3. To share and protect information quickly among partners (Governance pillar)


Through a series of design labs, the project asks partners to apply risk management to each critical infrastructure area, as well as interdependencies that may be unknown across other sectors that lead to cascading impacts. They work together to solve complex problems with shared risk priorities. The participants work together to solve complex risk problems through identified common priorities. 

 

The design lab methods lean on Architectural and Urban Design thinking foundations, while using participatory workshops to engineer system-informed solutions. Risk Management and Systems thinking methods are integrated to help right-size our solutions for the issue in front of us.

 

These workshops are delivered in a way that focuses to reduce and rethink barriers to effective service delivery.

Contact us

If you would like to be involved with the project or remain up to date about the work, please complete the form below. For questions and more information, please contact Kerrie Green.

Fill out the form Contact Kerrie Green

Photo credit: Lisa Anne Simpson

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