Collaborative capability building for critical infrastructure resilience: assessment and selection of good practices

Abstract

Accidental and intentional disruptive events affecting Critical Infrastructure (CI) systems dramatically increase on a global scale and put pressure on governments and CI operators to further improve technical and organizational capacities for securing the continuity of service. Experts in the field call for collaborative approaches to manage CI interdependencies and mitigate domino effects, which amplify the impact of disruptions over space, time and social functions. This paper presents an integrated framework for the classification, assessment and selection of Good Practices (GPs) in the Critical Infrastructure Resilience domain—‘CRAFTER’, from the perspective of collaborative Emergency Management (EM) capability building. The GPs mainly come from local and national level actions and programs, emphasizing the importance of fostering collaborative processes among stakeholders. The study identified 53 GPs through a systematic analysis of available scientific literature and research projects in the CI domain, which were used in the development of the CRAFTER framework. The framework was refined and validated through a questionnaire administered to CI experts, as a way to integrate theory-based and practitioner-based knowledge. The GPs were then classified and assessed according to their intended application context, the activities and functionalities covered, and the EM capabilities they support. The CRAFTER framework enables the assessment and benchmarking of GPs showing their strengths and weaknesses when used to build EM capabilities. It also supports practitioners in selecting a smallest effective bundle of GPS under different institutional and operational contexts, making sure that all the EM phases and capabilities are adequately covered.