Linear infrastructure assets as a territorial system for flood disturbances control

Abstract

Flooding is a cyclical environmental disturbance with implications on ecosystems structure and physical environment (White and Pickett, 1985). Risk management is an increasingly pressing issue within spatial planning that is perhaps the most effective approach to preventing the increase in flood risk through active controls on territorial transformations (Sayers et al., 2013; Meng et al., 2020). At the same time, the development of linear infrastructures is essential to ensure adequate accessibility to services, goods and facilities (Srinivasu and Rao, 2013). Since infrastructure works are territorial-scale interventions with a considerable potential on shaping spatial forms (Strang, 1996) and on directing environmental processes, including alterations on surface hydrology (Raiter et al., 2018) the integrated exploitation of these two implications would allow a widespread territorial intervention able to implement resilience against flood. As linear infrastructures developments are complex works in complex environments (Di Giulio, Emanueli, Lobosco, 2018) there is considerable uncertainty about timing and economic feasibility that arise from the management of public/private interests, the multiplicity of issues involved and the management of huge financial budgets. The aim of this contribution is to discern the limitations and potentials of a multidisciplinary strategy by following a 'research-by-design' approach for the development of a rail transport infrastructure in the Lezhë district in Albania with a specific focus on the integration of flood risk reduction design within infrastructure track layout planning. Through a radical rethinking of territories, this work increases territorial resilience and propose new hybrid ecosystems, making them simultaneously devoted both to functionalist engineering and ecological renovation.