In a world where the unpredictable has become the norm, resilient infrastructure is poised to become a cornerstone of global construction in the immediate future. These are bridges, roads, and buildings capable of withstanding extreme weather events, regenerating environments, and at the same time, fostering new spaces for communication and social interaction. Professor Feniosky Peña-Mora, with whom we held this conversation, is widely regarded as a leading authority in this field.

We believe this interview is particularly significant not only because of his extensive academic career—which includes leading laboratories at MIT, teaching at Columbia University in New York, and his current role as National Dean of the School of Engineering and Sciences at Tecnológico de Monterrey—or his historic appointment as the first Latino President of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). It is also due to his hands-on experience in planning and delivering resilient infrastructure. Following the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, he served as Commissioner for the New York City Department of Design and Construction. This entire trajectory follows his journey as an immigrant arriving in the United States from the Dominican Republic towards the close of the 20^th century.

Speaking with him has allowed us to better understand the present and future of these structures, their social impact, and their relationship with the environment and new technologies. Furthermore, he has shared valuable insights to help guide the next generation of engineers tasked with building them.

You grew up in Dominican Republic, and then you arrived in the United States as a migrant. How did that affect your personal trajectory and your understanding of what’s a fair and resilient infrastructure?

I think my story as an immigrant in the United States reflects the story of many other immigrants. I came here because I was interested in continuing to learn; that’s something that has always driven me. How much can I learn and how much I can contribute. I was able to go to MIT and do my master’s and PhD there.

It really kind of solidified to me the belief of the importance that resiliency not only has to do with the physical realm of a road, a bridge, a dam, a building to withstand. It solidified the view that at the end of the day all this infrastructure, all these buildings are built with a purpose, to serve a function, a function of housing, a function of holding spaces for laboratories or carrying out justice, the infrastructure to connect places. And sometimes we can forget that that function is critical, particularly in times of a disaster and after a disaster.

So, it kind of reinforces the view that when we talk about sustainable infrastructure, we must think about not physical, but also the community and the function that that infrastructure serves and how that function serves everyone, not just selected few. So, it brought together resiliency, sustainability, and equity.

You have answered part of the question of what a resilient infrastructure means to you, but what would it be its evolution in the last decades? Could you give us a brief overview? And especially in these later years of global crisis, turmoil and climate change.

I think it’s interesting because there has been a lot of effort to ensure that there is a balance on when we talk about infrastructure. At the beginning, if we want to think like from the beginning of times, the concept of fortification was very much associated with resiliency. You know, how strong can it be to withstand disaster? The ways to increase the security factor or the safety factor of an infrastructure, building or edification to ensure that we can resist.

Then there has been an evolution. Well, how do we do this in a way that the resources that are used take into consideration the effect that it will have not only on today’s population, but in future population? How well are we using the resources? How effective are using those resources to continue to use that function of resistance or fortification? And then the concept, as I mentioned, of is this available to everyone? Are we protecting a selected few? Are we protecting everyone? And so, it has been evolving. 

At the School of Engineering and Sciences at Tecnológico de Monterrey, we also see that in the interest of the new generation, the early career [engineers] that are very interested not only in what they do, but also why they do it, and what meaning does it have. Connecting the concept of resiliency with the concept of sustainability at the level of the impact that it’s having on society, the impact that it’s having on nature, on our planet, and the impact that it’s having on individual people, and how to connect this in a way that is not isolated, not just looking at that bridge.

Okay, that may be good. You can create a bridge that can withstand. It may cost you a lot but can withstand a lot of different events. But what about the roadways that connect to that bridge? That needs to be protected because if you have a bridge that doesn’t have any roadways that lead to it, it will not be able to serve the function. In addition to that, how do we ensure that the bridge is not a bridge to nowhere? It’s a bridge that actually connects communities, can transport goods, and can be used in case of any issues that have to do with the safety or security of our communities or our nations.

I would say that what has changed is more explicit perspectives that add that resiliency goes beyond withstanding. It goes to serving the function that we have designed it for and serving it for everyone, using resources in the best and most efficient possible way.

What would be the difference with a sustainable infrastructure? Obviously, resilient infrastructure should be sustainable, but are all sustainable infrastructures resilient?

But how can we use the nature, the fields that we have, how do we use porous surface to be able to capture some of that water so that we have a better connection with nature. And we are seeing more and more of that concept that sustainability is not only the efficient use of resources, but a better integration with the natural systems and how we can do it in a way that protects the natural systems, as well as increase the sustainability and efficiency of the built environment. And so that concept of regenerative is very important. And I think it’s being more and more considered in a lot of the decisions.

And we see it in a lot of different areas like bioswales, seeing it in buildings, where we are trying to include more green elements, green walls that are able to absorb some of the heat and be able to control more of the climate so that we use less energy.

And it’s going back almost to the basics, when initially a lot of the designs took into consideration the environment that we were in, because there were not many artificial systems to create comfort. How do we use the ventilation of the system that allows for natural ventilation? Again, that’s another way to think about regenerative infrastructure and buildings.

We would like to go into specifics about what you mentioned regarding Hurricane Sandy at the beginning and your experience. What would be, in a nutshell, the lessons that you learned from that experience?

I actually was in New York when it happened and seeing the effect that it had, particularly in Lower Manhattan, definitely it kind of gave a wakeup call. And why did it give a wakeup call? If somebody were to be thinking about coastal cities, I don’t think New York comes to mind right away. Very likely, Miami will come to mind. But New York City, because of everything that it has and everything that it represents, not necessarily people think like right away like, a coastal city, but it is a coastal city and we all know it. And Sandy kind of gave a little bit of a wakeup call on how vulnerable it can be.

But what was most important was the effort that was made to rebuild by designing in a way that takes in consideration not only what we learned from Sandy, but what the community thought was important. And the series of conversations, workshops, and different initiatives that we’re taking that were funded by very important organizations like the Rockefeller Foundation that were rethinking what we should do. How can we not only protect but also design a community asset? That process of community involvement, thinking about the future, and thinking of multiple uses for the infrastructure, is very important.

So, we are investing in protection. Why don’t we do the investment to connect the communities with those assets, those recreational assets? And I think those are very important conversations that need to happen in almost all the infrastructure, which is happening. A lot of projects are taking the model and working.

Going back to long-term thinking, can resilient infrastructure be built also with the present in mind?

 

I think there can be arguments, very well documented, presented, the value proposition can be very clear in terms of the benefits, the cost, and the impact that it will have. And I wanted to emphasize our impact because that’s where we can really show the benefit. This investment will have this impact. But we should try to do it in a way that shows impact today, impact tomorrow, and impact if a disaster occurs. If we only present the impact if a disaster will occur and do not present the impact and the value that presents today to today’s lives, to tomorrow’s lives, and the community, I think it’s going to be a difficult argument.

And that’s why I really applaud the whole movement to include community, these assets as community assets. How they serve the community today and tomorrow, not just when a problem happens, but people can start seeing, experiencing the benefits and the value right away and added that protection in case of eventuality.

Can you tell us more about specific resilient infrastructure projects?

I would like to start first one that I know best is, you know, the whole Eastside Coastal Resiliency Project in New York City, which is actually embedding all these principles and goes back to the whole concept that we really emphasized in NYC when I was there, the concept of guiding principles. That was a North Star for designers, engineers, contractors, and everyone. Why are we building this? And what functions do we want them to provide? What are some of those, in essence, things that we wanted to achieve that are important to always have in mind?

We have seen it in Singapore, in different projects like the Changi Water Restoration Process in which they are really looking at how to not only use this principle but also use technology, which is very important, and how do we use the assets that we have. We have seen it in Houston, we have seen it in California, in different places in California, in Europe, in the Netherlands with Room for the River.

There are engineering solutions, there are natural solutions, and the best is how to integrate those. And like, for example, that brings me to the thought of the American Society of Civil Engineers, for which I was the president for 2025, in which we discussed how to achieve harmony between the natural and the engineered systems. 

There are many ways an infrastructure can become resilient in terms of transforming a community. One of those large projects in Brazil, for example, could be São Paulo, with the L6 metro line, which is joining communities from deprived areas, taking them to the centre. What are your thoughts about that?

I think this is important because it was similar to what I was mentioning before, that we are seeing more and more of the intersection between resiliency, sustainability, equity, and adaptability. And I would say this concept of equity plays a major role in this project in Sao Paulo, in which there are communities, and we know that there have been communities that have not benefited traditionally from the investments that they were supposed to.

For example, in NYC there is a very well-established program where you bring together companies that are on disadvantaged communities, disabled, veterans, and communities that have not always been part of the process for whatever reason. I don’t think this is the place to go into all those details. But giving those opportunities, because once you get them involved, first, you increase their pride because now they can say, “I was part of creating that infrastructure.”

Second, you create a sense of ownership that you want that infrastructure to succeed. So, if there are certain issues that the community are experiencing or that people may not see that is the right thing to do, they will feel more empowered to speak because at the end of the day, they feel that they kind of own it and that pride and they can make sure that that infrastructure serves their purpose.

This ability to allow, again, there are a lot of programs, apprenticeship programs which bring more women and people that have not been involved in this type of process to be part of it. And that requires investment. That requires investments in training. That requires women in capacity building. That requires investment on reach so that the community because if a community has never been involved, they don’t know how to connect to those opportunities so you really have to outreach in a way that they feel first welcome and, second, secure that they can be part of it.

At ACCIONA there’s a lot of concern about new generations, new engineers, new talent and we have a quote from you where you said, “Do you want to be hired to build a new bridge or to build the city of the future?” So, what’s your take on how the new generations are embracing resilient infrastructure? And how do you instil those values in the new generations? Do you think they’re more attracted to those concepts?

What I noticed in my students, and again, I have been in this business now for over 30 years, close to 40 years. So, I have seen certain changes. I see a move from the “what” to the “so what.” You know, we do this, but what does it mean? What impact does it have? So, there is a lot more interest in the impact, the value of the contribution. And when I talk about that, building a bridge or building a better city, I’m trying to convey that.

I have seen that my students are more interested in giving back, that their work means something, that their work is actually doing more than just allowing somebody to make money. That’s what I’ve seen in my time as a faculty member in different institutions with different profiles. That has changed in the students, which I applaud. I think it’s so important. 

What skills will an engineer need in 10 to 15 years? How do they prepare for their future? What’s your message to the new generations of engineers? What’s their mindset?

I can go down and try to explain all the technical aspects that they need to know. And I think we do a good job. How much do they have to know about mechanics, statics, and all those things that are important? But to me, the most important thing is that our engineers, particularly now more than ever, cannot let curiosity die.

They have to keep that curious mind that drove them to an interest in engineering. Why do things work? How can I make it better? How can I do it? Because that curiosity will be at the heart of our differentiation from machines. The reason is that now we’re going to see a lot of the work that normally is considered technical that will be kind of available through some systems to ask if you know how to ask the right question, which connects to the issue of curiosity, like how you ask the right question, what kind of questions to ask, so that you can get the answer.

And the other part is the concept of how to learn to learn, how you develop the habit, the approach, the thinking of learning, always learning. Because at the end of the day, you really have to understand how things work, what the impact it has, and how you can always be able to refresh your thinking, to be able to not only see what is happening today, but what will happen tomorrow, and how that connects curiosity and how to learn. Those are critical.

Another one is communication. Communication is that you may have the best idea in the world, but if you don’t have anybody that is ready to back it up, it’s going to die. So, being able to communicate, to articulate the value proposition of what you are thinking, is crucial to ensure that you have people who will be willing to invest.

So, in that case, I would say those will be three things. It’s not something that you will learn in engineering. I’m confident that they are going to be taught in engineering what they need to know to build the infrastructure that’s very resilient, very sustainable. The issue of equity will require more thinking. And the issue of adaptability will require that flexibility of curiosity, learning, and communicating.