Intelligent Layer & Infrastructure in the GGBI Framework

In the Green–Grey–Blue–Intelligent (GGBI) Framework, the Intelligent domain represents the layer that connects data, models, monitoring, AI tools, institutional knowledge, and communication. It helps interpret how Green, Grey, and Blue components behave and supports more informed, adaptive decisions in water and urban environments.

Monitoring & sensors Data & models AI & analytics Decision support Institutional learning Communication & education

What the Intelligent Layer Includes

The Intelligent layer is not a single tool or software platform. It is a collection of capabilities that help us observe, understand, and manage Green, Grey, and Blue elements more effectively. These capabilities can involve:

Monitoring and sensing: water levels, flows, rainfall, water quality, and other observations.
Data management: organizing, storing, and accessing environmental and infrastructure data.
Models and analysis: hydrologic, hydraulic, hydrodynamic, and water-quality models, as well as statistical and process-based analyses.
AI and advanced tools: pattern recognition, scenario exploration, knowledge distillation, and other emerging methods that assist understanding and communication.
Institutional and governance aspects: how agencies, communities, and decision-makers use information to coordinate actions and learn over time.
Education and communication: ways of explaining processes and trade-offs to students, practitioners, and the public.

These elements together support more adaptive and transparent planning, operation, and evaluation of water and urban infrastructure.

Illustrative Components of Intelligent Infrastructure

Monitoring Networks

Rain gauges, level sensors, flow meters, tide gauges, and water-quality stations that provide real-time or long-term data on how systems behave under different conditions, including extreme events.

Hydrologic & Hydraulic Models

Models used to represent rainfall–runoff, drainage networks, river flows, and interactions with Green and Grey infrastructure. They support design, scenario analysis, and risk assessment.

Hydrodynamic & Coastal Models

Models of tides, storm surge, waves, salinity, and sediment that help evaluate estuarine and coastal behavior, including the effects of infrastructure and sea-level rise.

AI-Supported Tools

Tools that assist with data synthesis, pattern recognition, visualization, scenario exploration, and translation of technical material into more accessible formats for teaching and communication.

Intelligent capabilities are most effective when they are grounded in sound physical understanding and used to complement—not replace—engineering judgment and local knowledge.

Connecting Green, Grey, and Blue Domains

The Intelligent domain provides the “connective tissue” that links the other three domains of the GGBI Framework:

With Green: Monitoring and models help quantify how green infrastructure affects runoff, peak flows, water quality, and microclimate, and support design optimization and performance evaluation.
With Grey: Data and models aid in evaluating capacity, reliability, and failure modes of pipes, storage, levees, and coastal structures under a range of scenarios, including climate-driven extremes.
With Blue: Hydrodynamic and morphodynamic models, supported by observations, help interpret estuarine and coastal behavior under combined river, tidal, surge, and wave influences.

By drawing these pieces together, the Intelligent layer helps identify where different measures reinforce or conflict with each other and how portfolios of Green, Grey, and Blue interventions can be evaluated systematically.

Human, Institutional, and Educational Dimensions

Intelligence in the GGBI Framework is not limited to digital tools. It also includes:

Professional experience and judgment developed through practice and case studies.
Institutional arrangements that enable agencies and stakeholders to share data and coordinate actions.
Community knowledge and engagement that help identify priorities, vulnerabilities, and feasible solutions.
Teaching and training that build capacity among students and practitioners to understand and apply integrated concepts.

These human and institutional aspects are essential for turning information into durable resilience outcomes on the ground.

Links to Applications on This Site

On this website, the Intelligent domain is closely connected to:

As additional examples and teaching materials are added, this page can highlight specific uses of Intelligent approaches to support integrated Green–Grey–Blue strategies.