The Other Side of the Interdependency Coin: Identifying Coordination and Investment Opportunities for Infrastructure Systems

Abstract

A vast amount of investment in infrastructure is required to respond to short- and long-term social, technological, and environmental needs and developments. Because infrastructure systems are highly interconnected, much can be gained by considering these interdependencies when planning future investments. However, identifying opportunities that arise from these infrastructure interdependencies has mainly been neglected. So far, the risk perspective has dominated interdependency studies. Alternatively, this paper proposes an agent-based modeling approach supporting infrastructure decision makers (1) to reveal the effects of planned sector-specific investments on the performance of interdependent infrastructures; and (2) to identify situations around which cross-sectoral coordination and collaboration can be shaped. The selected modeling approach treats infrastructure as sociotechnical systems, incorporating sector-driven operational decisions and infrastructure demand changes. They included operational decisions that respond to temporary or longer-term demand-capacity mismatch to account for the flexibility in exploiting available systemwide capacities. This modeling approach results in a more realistic estimation of infrastructure performance and beneficial co-investment opportunities. A regional transportation infrastructure system in the Netherlands is used as a case to demonstrate the approach.