Infrastructure

Infrastructure focus

CERCA infrastructure research aims to strengthen the built environment to withstand and adapt to climate-induced stresses.
Infographic detailing drivers, research thrusts, outcomes, and pillars of CERCA's infrastructure research
Researchers are developing climate-resilient, adaptive, livable human-centric environments that seamlessly interface with their inhabitants and environment. They are socio-technical engineering the future of infrastructure systems through digital twins, and the creation of privacy-protecting, ethical, human-centered computational models of infrastructure systems.

Example projects

  • Example of a rail car type that is being implemented in this project.

    Revitalizing Legacy Infrastructure Using Rapidly Deployable Pop-Up Metro

    This project explores how underused legacy rail lines can be affordably and quickly reactivated to meet climate and mobility goals. Using modular transit systems and CMU-developed real-time rail health monitoring, the team offers a scalable, lower-cost alternative to traditional transit development. Community-led planning ensures solutions are locally relevant, while addressing technical, financial, and regulatory challenges. By repurposing existing infrastructure, the project improves access, reduces car dependence, and reconnects underserved neighborhoods—creating a model for adaptive, resilient transit in U.S. cities.

    Faculty advisors: Katherine A. Flanigan and Mario Bergés
  • City with hot sun on horizon

    SHADE: Surface Heat Assessment for Developed Environments

    This project focuses on understanding and mitigating extreme heat waves in U.S. urban areas. It investigates complex interactions that exacerbate these events, aiming to develop models that improve the understanding of urban heat hazards. By combining deterministic and probabilistic modeling, the research seeks to provide more accurate predictions and risk assessments, aiding urban planners in developing effective heat mitigation strategies.

    Faculty advisors: Mario Bergés and Matteo Pozzi

  • Student demonstrating a human behavior tracking sensor

    Integrating Human Spatio-temporal Behavior Models into Sustainable Infrastructure

    This research redefines infrastructure planning by integrating human behavior and needs into design. Through AI-based cognitive models, it simulates how people move, interact, and adapt to changing infrastructure and environmental conditions. These insights enable predictive planning across water, energy, and mobility systems, ensuring that climate adaptation strategies are socially responsive, and technically sound, and anchored in real-world human behavior.

    Faculty advisors: Katherine A. Flanigan and Mario Bergés

  • Overhead view of people using a public park

    Modeling Infrastructure System Pathways of Social Capital Formation to Strengthen Community Resilience

    This project examines how social infrastructure like parks, community centers, and digital platforms builds social capital that supports community resilience. As disruptions grow more frequent, informal networks play a key role in how communities respond and recover. By integrating cyber-physical sensing with behavioral modeling, the research maps how different social spaces foster connections that enable collective action. These insights inform simulation-ready models to guide the design of infrastructure systems that perform technically while also strengthening social trust and adaptive capacity.

    Faculty advisors: Katherine A. Flanigan and Mario Bergés