D2.3 Report on interdependencies and cascading effects of smart city infrastructures

Critical infrastructure systems do not operate isolated from each other. They are highly interconnected. For instance, telecommunication systems require a supply of energy to operate. These interconnections can go in one direction or be mutual. For example, energy systems, in turn, require a functioning telecommunication infrastructure to be operated efficiently. It follows that a large number of infrastructure properties, including resilience, their efficiency, operational state, etc., are not only a function of the state of the given infrastructure itself, but also of all other critical infrastructure systems where interdependencies exist. A direct consequence of this is that a shock or adverse event that impacts one critical infrastructure can result in cascading failures and ripple effects at various scales in, both, space and time, that may ultimately impact larger systems. Due to these considerations, the SmartResilience project aimed from the beginning to analyse such interdependencies between the infrastructures that are considered in eight different case studies.