Enhancing eco-engineering of coastal infrastructure with eco-design

Enhancing eco-engineering of coastal infrastructure with eco-design: Moving from mitigation to integration

Pioch, S. (CNRS/Université de Montpellier II)
Relini, G. (dell'Ambiente e della Vita (DISTAV))
Souche, J. C. (INRA Institut National de La Recherche Agronomique)
Stive, M.J.F. (TU Delft Coastal Engineering)
De Monbrison, D. (B.R.L. Ingénierie Co.)
Nassif, S. (University of New York in Prague)
Simard, F. (IUCN Global Marine and Polar Programme)
Allemand, D. (Centre Scientifique de Monaco)
Saussol, P. (IESE Business School)
Spieler, R. (Nova Southeastern University)
Kilfoyle, K. (Nova Southeastern University)

2018

Eco-design aims to enhance eco-engineering practices of coastal infrastructure projects in support of ecological functions before these projects are developed and implemented. The principle is to integrate eco-engineering concepts in the early phases of project design. Although ecological losses are inherent in any construction project, the goal of eco-design is to introduce environmental considerations upfront during technical design choices, and not just afterwards when evaluating the need for reduction or compensatory mitigation. It seeks to reduce the negative impacts of marine infrastructure by introducing a new reflexive civil engineering approach. It requires a valuation of nature with the aim of reducing impacts by incorporating intelligent design and habitat-centered construction. The principle advocated in this paper is to design coastal infrastructures, at micro- to macro-biological scales, using a combination of fine and large scale physical and chemical modifications to hard substrates, within the scope of civil engineering requirements. To this end, we provide a brief introduction to the factors involved in concrete-biota interactions and propose several recommendations as a basis to integrate ecology into civil engineering projects, specifically addressed to concrete.

Coastal civil engineering
Eco-design
Eco-engineering
Ecological integration
Ecological restoration
Environmental impact assessment

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:764af36d-be50-40c2-9838-704d95b95250

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2018.05.034

2018-12-06

0925-8574

Ecological Engineering, 120, 574-584

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2018 S. Pioch, G. Relini, J. C. Souche, M.J.F. Stive, D. De Monbrison, S. Nassif, F. Simard, D. Allemand, P. Saussol, R. Spieler, K. Kilfoyle