| dc.description.abstract | Globally, critical infrastructure (CI), such as energy, water, transport, information and communication technology, health, food supply, banking and finance, government services, safety and emergency services are required to ensure the provision of public services, economic growth and social development. Since the late 1990s, countries have been designing and implementing public policies and strategies to protect CI from various threats. Initially, policies were focused on the physical protection of CI to physical hazards such as terrorism due to events such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States and 2004 Madrid and 2005 London terrorist attacks but have quickly evolved to reflect the evolving and unpredictable global landscape of threats such as natural disasters, ageing infrastructure, cyber-attacks and many more. Scholars have noted that the adoption of “critical infrastructure resilience” is necessary to ensure the safety and well-being of global communities in light of the evolving landscape of threats, including political threats and the intricate interconnectedness of global infrastructure. Research of CI resilience shows promising signs of interest among scholars. However, some of the most fundamental questions around the concept are still not widely understood, such as: How is critical infrastructure resilience defined? How is it assessed?; How can governments, policy leaders, practitioners and CI owners and operators enhance CI resilience? For these reasons, this study seeks to fill the research gap and establish the current knowledge on critical infrastructure resilience among the literature and address several fundamental questions to ensure a consistent understanding of the concept. This study aims to contribute to knowledge about critical infrastructure resilience by systematically reviewing relevant scholarly literature, analyzing its major and minor themes, and identifying future research directions. The results draw several conclusions including the limited research of CI resilience outside of engineering, a lack of consensus surrounding the definition of CI resilience and a narrow perspective of the risks to CI. Finally, future research recommendations include an increased research focus on societal resilience and additional examination of non-physical risks. Furthermore, an analysis of CI resilience among a more diversified set of industries including healthcare, emergency services, food production and distribution and essential manufacturing and an assessment of non-technical solutions to enhance CI resilience. | en |
