nexustandards.com/energy-infrastructure · 14 taught
Energy and Critical Infrastructure
NRS-H47 Structural and civil failure; NRS-H48 Utility and communication network outage
14standards4disciplines
Illustrative: a block model of a city with water rising and falling through its streets, a heat island over its core, or the city growing
Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Infrastructure, Energy and Industry
Department of Cities and Infrastructure Systems
The department studies the built fabric of a city as one system: buildings and their exposure, the road and rail network, the port and airport, the substations that feed them and the engineering that keeps them reliable.
01Map
How its disciplines connect
The map
DepartmentDisciplineNexus Standard taught here
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02Disciplines
Disciplines of the department
A filled mark is one open course in the discipline.
03Maps
Build a twin of any place
Search any place or open the world; the layers and generators follow department of Cities and Infrastructure Systems on the planet map, the globe and in 3D.
Infrastructure, Energy and IndustryAny placeTwin builder
- Terrain 0 to 523 m
- 83,815 buildings in the box
- 5,085 footprints in the core, 2,796 with an estimated height
- Roads 176 km
- Rail 99 km
- 57 substations
- 4 port
- 2 airport
- 5 hospitals
- 8 railway stations
- 4 water works
- 2 power plants, 202 MW
Drag to move, right drag or Shift with a drag to turn and tilt, Ctrl with the wheel to zoom. Keyboard: arrows move, Shift with arrows turn and tilt, + and – zoom, 0 resets, V steps through the views, Escape clears.
Data as of 17 Oct 2026
Places5
Layers5
iCredits
- Terrain Surface height in whole metres on a grid of about a hundred and twenty metres, read from one overview of the 30 m product at build time. Produced using Copernicus WorldDEM-30 © DLR e.V. 2010–2014 and © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH 2014–2018 provided under COPERNICUS by the European Union and ESA; all rights reserved. read 2026-10-17. Estimate: A surface model: trees and roofs are in the heights. Relief is exaggerated for legibility and the factor is printed on the stage.
- Buildings Footprints of the central city extruded to their tagged height, and a count of buildings per 150 m cell over the rest of the box. © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0. data as of 2026-10-17. Estimate: Where a building has no height or levels tag its height is an estimate by use, flagged in the data and shown in a lighter tone.
- Roads and rail Motorways, trunk, primary and secondary roads and the railway lines, with their length in kilometres. © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0. data as of 2026-07-15.
- Lifeline assets Substations with their tagged voltage, port land, the airport, hospitals, railway stations and water works, each as one point. © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL 1.0. data as of 2026-05-31.
- Power plants Every plant inside the box, with capacity in MW and primary fuel, from the 2021 release. Power plants: Global Power Plant Database v1.3.0 (2021), World Resources Institute and partners, CC BY 4.0. release 1.3.0, 2021-06-02. Estimate: A 2021 snapshot, never current operating status.
Why this place: Wellington's regional lifelines programme, which began with a published 1991 case study of its lifelines in earthquakes, is a reference case for lifelines engineering, so the twin teaches on the place where the practice was named. One box of about twenty by eighteen kilometres holds a dense harbour city on steep terrain, its port and airport, the rail terminus and the Hutt corridor, the substations that feed the city and two wind farms in the western hills, so every lifeline family is present and legible at one scale. Data quality: OpenStreetMap building and road coverage of New Zealand is complete, Copernicus DEM GLO-30 covers the terrain at thirty metres, and the Global Power Plant Database lists the plants.
Flat plan of the same data. The 3D twin opens on devices that can draw it, once its data and code have been checked; the numbers are the same either way.
The boundaries, names and designations shown do not imply any judgement on the legal status of any territory, or any endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Countries: Natural Earth (public domain).
04Live map
Urban signals in France
Night-time lights, population density, nitrogen dioxide and urban heat, over France.
The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.
Layers 2
Urban signals
Keyboard, with the map focused
Hold Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll to zoom
Latest available
NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth
Loading the latest NASA imagery.
Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.
Urban signals, framed on France.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.
Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONETSources and licences
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- VIIRS Black Marble night-time lights, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; distributed by the NASA Level-1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System (LAADS DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
- OMI nitrogen dioxide (Aura) and OMPS aerosol index (Suomi NPP), NASA; distributed by the NASA GES DISC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
- Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
- Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
- Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
- Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
- NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- Air quality forecast, 5 days, PM2.5 (CAMS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information 2026.
- Past year, daily temperature and sunshine (NASA POWER): These data were obtained from the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) POWER Project funded through the NASA Earth Science/Applied Science Program..
- Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Optional layers (14 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.
Layers and dates
- Night-time lights, daily: VIIRS Black Marble (VNP46A2), NASA LAADS DAAC · 12 Oct 2026
- Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
- Nitrogen dioxide, lower atmosphere column: OMI Aura, NASA GES DISC · 10 Oct 2026
- Land surface temperature, day, 8-day composite: VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day, NASA LANCE · 14 Sep 2026
- Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
05Console
How the Cities and Infrastructure Systems department teaches, as a process you can run
Press Play to run this process from this page's own data.
06Standards and evidence
Standards and evidence, research and evidence, learning, practice and connections
Nexus Standards it teaches and relies on
The Nexus Standards the department teaches toward, grouped by master standard, with the disciplines that teach each.
nexustandards.com/hazards · 2 taught
Hazards and Disaster Risk Reduction
NRS-C14 Resilience capability and maturity; NRS-M4 Vulnerability, fragility and resilience
2standards1disciplinenexustandards.com/industry-trade · 2 taught
Industry, Trade and Supply Chains
NRS-M10 Markets, trade and supply chains; NRS-X4 Trade, transport and supply chains risk
2standards1disciplinenexustandards.com/cities · 1 taught
Cities and the Built Environment
NRS-X5 Cities and built environment risk
1standard1discipline
Nexus Standards at the AcademyThe Academy proposes how each discipline teaches toward the Nexus Standards; the mapping is open for public review.
Research and tools
Research and preprints as they are published, by discipline, with the faculty's other tools.
The hub lists the newest research and preprints for 4 disciplines, each with its source and date. Open the research hub
Critical infrastructure and lifelines, Cities, housing and the built environment, Transport, ports and logistics, Reliability, safety and resilience engineering
Courses of the department
Courses whose primary discipline is in this department, then courses from connected departments that also teach it.
Pathways that run through it
Where the department's subjects are practised
Across the ecosystem
07Take part
Take part in Infrastructure, Energy and Industry
Start from who you are.
08Questions
Questions, answers and key terms
Is study here free?
Yes. Every course and learning material of Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium, is free to study, self-paced or with a cohort. Ordinary participation has no fee; paid work, internships and fellowships are separate arrangements.
What does completing a course give me?
A completion record: the course, its version, the date and what was assessed, private by default and shared by you. It stacks into discipline, department and programme achievements. A record states what was studied and assessed and does not certify competence; it is not a licence, a professional title or an employment status.
Where do the data and the places come from?
Every faculty teaches on a twin of a real place built from open data; each layer carries its provider, licence and date, and every result on the Academy states its source. Maps and figures are indicators for teaching, never an assessment of a place.
How do I take part beyond the department's courses?
Form a competence cell of three to seven people, study a shared pathway, take a supervised assignment in the National Working Groups, or bring a cohort from your institution. For organisations.
Key terms
Term
Critical infrastructure and lifelines
This area covers the lifeline systems whose failure cascades across society: electricity, water and wastewater, transport, telecommunications, and health and emergency services.
Term
Cities, housing and the built environment
This area covers how urban form, buildings, housing, mobility and services concentrate exposure, and how planning, design and municipal governance reduce it.
Term
Transport, ports and logistics
This area covers transport networks, ports, airports, logistics hubs and freight corridors, their exposure to hazards, accidents and disruption, and the role of transport in supply chains and emergency response.
Term
Reliability, safety and resilience engineering
Reliability and resilience engineering studies how engineered systems fail and how they are designed, tested and maintained to keep working or to recover quickly.
ReportsContribute
Contribute evidence from this page.
Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.
Risk Academy
Related
Around the Department of Cities and Infrastructure Systems
Department of Cities and Infrastructure Systems
Choose a discipline
Each discipline page sets out its scope, courses, labs, technology and key terms.