In the twenty-first century, the well-being of the public is intrinsically intertwined with certain infrastructures and key asset provisions. The destruction of key assets can cause large-scale property damages, human injury, and/ or death. Furthermore, the destruction of key assets can profoundly damage national prestige and confidence. As the demand for provisions (products, goods, and services) has increased, so have inside and outside influences that disrupt normal operations of the infrastructure system activities and processes rendering such systems inoperable. The inoperability of infrastructure systems is linked to several societal changes that occurred in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. For example, technological advancement, rapid institutional changes, increasing complexity, transboundary dependencies, and increasing demand for quality services coupled with increasing natural threats present a grave challenge for policymakers, engineers, and scientists in sustaining societal operations. Even so, the intricate interdependencies among infrastructures have already illustrated a need for a shift in infrastructure management. For example, a single blackout in Germany on November 4, 2006, caused a loss of power for millions in France, Italy, Spain, and Austria. Cascading unintended electric failure resulted in transport systems (i.e. trains, traffic signals) delays and disruptions of other interconnected operations.

It is from this perspective that understanding the relationship among elements, components, and infrastructure systems is an essential step in improving infrastructure designs, protection, and security measures. In one form, many have gravitated toward different strategies. For example, those in system safety will call for a risk management strategy based on the identification, analysis of hazards, and application of remedial controls. The concept of system safety is useful in demonstrating the adequacy of technologies when difficulties are faced with probabilistic risk analysis. On the other hand, it might not be possible to rely only on probabilistic risk analysis. Thus, there is a need to go beyond the “obvious.” To illustrate, let’s consider the concept of dependability. A dependable infrastructure performs normally, especially when its services are needed. However, given the nature of infrastructure systems, one has to consider the relationship that exists between infrastructure and larger issues in public health, economy, and security. A destruction of a dependable infrastructure can have a severe impact on public health/safety, the economy, or any combination of those matters. Consider the events that shocked the world on September 11, 2001. Four planes were hijacked from a dependable aviation sector leading to over 2,500 deaths, over 6000 injured, loss of power and water, and closure of the New York Stock Exchange – all of which affected the local as well as the international economy and security. Therefore, the dependability of the aviation sector is linked to public health, the economy, and security.

The public’s increasing dependency on certain systems (e.g. agriculture and food, water systems, public health and safety, emergency services, electricity, etc.) along with rapid institutional changes (i.e. shifting from public to private, deregulation, privatization, market-driven economies, etc.) and increasing technological changes have changed the landscape of traditional infrastructure systems. For example, more than half of the world’s population resides in cities. The rapid growth in urbanization has made cities more and more exposed and vulnerable to a broad spectrum of threats and hazards: natural and anthropogenic. To respond to such difficulties, we cannot proceed using the traditional and tested approaches. In the present research, the authors suggest gamification.

The term “gamification” first appeared online in the context of computer software and did not gain popularity until 2010. However, even before the term came into use, other fields borrowing elements from video games was common, such as learning disabilities and scientific visualization. Usage of the term increased around 2010 and it began to refer to incorporating social and reward aspects of games into the software. Research reported in the present book provides a chronology of the topic and how present research adds to the current body of knowledge.

The authors have gone to great lengths to use several well-tested concepts including project management and risk as well as emerging ideas, including Vulnerability Assessment (VA), and show how these concepts can be used to enable the Resilient Informed Decision-Making Process (ReIDMP). The authors bring convincing case applications, providing a consistent theoretical framework and adequate applications challenging researchers and public policy-makers interested in using gamification to create credible scenarios for further investigations and decisions.

The paradigm of using games to create more resilient cities is not only timely but necessary. Timely, because it is novel. Necessary because as the global human population surpasses eight billion, much of the population will be clustered around cities that serve as centers of human culture and economic activity. And yet, these cities, unfortunately, come with urban risks and vulnerabilities. Perhaps, the ideas in this book provide insights into how we might create better cities while relying on concepts of critical infrastructure systems, safety, risk, vulnerability, and resilience within gamification to enable informed decision-making.

Milan, Italy

January 2023

Enrico E. Zio, PhD

Professor and Director, Department of Energy,
Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy

Professor, École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris,
Paris, France