Infrastructure
Climate change already presents numerous challenges to institutions, infrastructures, and settlement patterns; as the emergency unfolds in the coming decades, many of these difficulties could become insurmountable, leading to a cascading collapse beyond human control. However, CESA believes infrastructure for collective action that is participatory and inclusive can lead to more equitable and efficient adaptation and thereby support durable socioeconomic stability in increasingly turbulent times.
The short film, The Same River, Twice, tells the story of CogniCity OSS from its early days in the monsoon floods in Jakarta
to its expansion regionally to support DRR for all hazards and encourage climate adaptation.
Open Source Software is critical infrastructure for a coordinated response to the climate emergency; with over 6.3 billion smartphone users in the world (as of 2021), the modular, cloud-based architecture of CogniCity OSS offers an equitable, participatory framework for global climate mobilization that leverages efficient mobile-centric design while remaining and highly adaptive to local conditions and challenges.
Description
The flagship component of CogniCity OSS, CogniCity.Info listens to social media for any posts about disasters, effectively converting these platforms into a public information gathering system. Once a keyword is detected, the software programmatically invites users to share more detailed reports using Humanitarian Chatbots. The system organizes and displays this information on a free digital map in real-time for residents and first responders. It is also designed to automatically integrate information from various government agencies, including infrastructure performance data and official disaster updates, to create a comprehensive map of impact, need, response, and recovery. Information is the most valuable resource in a disaster. However, decision-support tools are typically available to only a small group of individuals within municipal, national, or international disaster agencies. CogniCity.Info has revolutionized disaster preparedness, response, and recovery by democratizing decision-support infrastructure and making it freely available for all residents. When disaster response professionals and urban residents work together, and when residential knowledge about local conditions is integrated into disaster response efforts, communities can convert the noise of social media into inclusive, life-saving humanitarian infrastructure.
![Residents living alongside the Ciliwung River in Jakarta clean up after severe flooding during the monsoon season.]()
The need for a comprehensive and accessible digital system for disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation worldwide arises from the extensive demand for democratized decision-support infrastructure, improved disaster preparedness, response, and recovery, and enhanced collaboration between residents and disaster response professionals. Residents, first responders, and disaster agencies all face unique, dynamic challenges in accessing reliable, real-time information during disaster events that are worsened by climate change. CogniCity.Info addresses these challenges by efficiently monitoring social media for disaster-related keywords, using humanitarian chatbots to collect detailed reports, integrating information from government agencies and other stakeholders, and presenting comprehensive, user-friendly digital maps in real-time.
The software’s success can be measured through increased user engagement, improved decision-making for disaster management agencies, and strengthened collaboration between residents and first responders during disaster events. By addressing these critical needs, CogniCity.Info has revolutionized disaster management, fostering more inclusive and effective collaboration among all parties involved.
The flagship component of CogniCity OSS, CogniCity.Info listens to social media for any posts about disasters, effectively converting these platforms into a public information gathering system. Once a keyword is detected, the software programmatically invites users to share more detailed reports using Humanitarian Chatbots. The system organizes and displays this information on a free digital map in real-time for residents and first responders. It is also designed to automatically integrate information from various government agencies, including infrastructure performance data and official disaster updates, to create a comprehensive map of impact, need, response, and recovery. Information is the most valuable resource in a disaster. However, decision-support tools are typically available to only a small group of individuals within municipal, national, or international disaster agencies. CogniCity.Info has revolutionized disaster preparedness, response, and recovery by democratizing decision-support infrastructure and making it freely available for all residents. When disaster response professionals and urban residents work together, and when residential knowledge about local conditions is integrated into disaster response efforts, communities can convert the noise of social media into inclusive, life-saving humanitarian infrastructure.
The need for a comprehensive and accessible digital system for disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation worldwide arises from the extensive demand for democratized decision-support infrastructure, improved disaster preparedness, response, and recovery, and enhanced collaboration between residents and disaster response professionals. Residents, first responders, and disaster agencies all face unique, dynamic challenges in accessing reliable, real-time information during disaster events that are worsened by climate change. CogniCity.Info addresses these challenges by efficiently monitoring social media for disaster-related keywords, using humanitarian chatbots to collect detailed reports, integrating information from government agencies and other stakeholders, and presenting comprehensive, user-friendly digital maps in real-time.
The software’s success can be measured through increased user engagement, improved decision-making for disaster management agencies, and strengthened collaboration between residents and first responders during disaster events. By addressing these critical needs, CogniCity.Info has revolutionized disaster management, fostering more inclusive and effective collaboration among all parties involved.
Description
The challenge of coordinating diverse communities with various, changing needs during disaster response and recovery led to the development of a new modular component for crowd logistics. An early version of CogniCity.Sync is successfully deployed by HKFoodWorks to address chronic issues of food waste and hunger in Hong Kong. Building on their innovation, we have further developed this component for beta-testing during episodic disaster response in Metro Manila. By integrating both challenges—one focused on episodic, post-typhoon recovery, and another attending to chronic issues related to food availability and public service accessibility—we have designed a robust, crowd-logistics system that works for both immediate disaster response as well as longer-term community engagement, resource distribution, and day-to- day mutual aid.
As part of our global climate mobilization, we are now developing an enterprise-level open source version of CogniCity.Sync that can be deployed anywhere in the world as a real-time support for frontline communities. Importantly, CogniCity.Sync is being developed as a complimentary, interoperable system with the other CogniCity OSS components. In order to enable its future usage as a stand-alone software product, CESA is developing a modular code base that can be deployed as an independent piece of critical digital infrastructure on either a local server or by using a cloud-based architecture. By ensuring that CogniCity.Sync can be used across a wide range of scales and contexts, this crowd logistics system will substantially improve mutual aid for climate adaptation. As with all CogniCity OSS products, the Alliance will ensure enterprise-level quality prior to its global deployment and that the software meets the highest standards of reliability and (to the greatest extent possible) interoperability with other open source hardware and software in the humanitarian sector.
![Residents in the Jatinegara District coordinate evacuations and help deliver emergency supplies during severe flooding.]()
The growing urgency of climate adaptation and the increasing complexity of disaster response and recovery scenarios create a pressing need for a versatile and scalable crowd-logistics system like CogniCity.Sync. Coordinating diverse communities with evolving needs during disasters and crises demands a robust, community-led logistics system that can facilitate both immediate response and long-term community engagement. By leveraging the power of crowd-logistics, CogniCity.Sync further revolutionizes resource distribution and day-to-day mutual aid efforts, ultimately contributing to the future of climate adaptation. The development of an enterprise-level open source version of CogniCity.Sync with a modular code base, ensuring compatibility with other CogniCity OSS components and standalone deployment, will significantly enhance its applicability and accessibility across diverse scales and contexts. By ensuring high standards of reliability and interoperability, CESA will release a powerful and adaptive crowd-logistics solution to address the growing challenges of climate change and foster resilient communities worldwide.
The challenge of coordinating diverse communities with various, changing needs during disaster response and recovery led to the development of a new modular component for crowd logistics. An early version of CogniCity.Sync is successfully deployed by HKFoodWorks to address chronic issues of food waste and hunger in Hong Kong. Building on their innovation, we have further developed this component for beta-testing during episodic disaster response in Metro Manila. By integrating both challenges—one focused on episodic, post-typhoon recovery, and another attending to chronic issues related to food availability and public service accessibility—we have designed a robust, crowd-logistics system that works for both immediate disaster response as well as longer-term community engagement, resource distribution, and day-to- day mutual aid.
As part of our global climate mobilization, we are now developing an enterprise-level open source version of CogniCity.Sync that can be deployed anywhere in the world as a real-time support for frontline communities. Importantly, CogniCity.Sync is being developed as a complimentary, interoperable system with the other CogniCity OSS components. In order to enable its future usage as a stand-alone software product, CESA is developing a modular code base that can be deployed as an independent piece of critical digital infrastructure on either a local server or by using a cloud-based architecture. By ensuring that CogniCity.Sync can be used across a wide range of scales and contexts, this crowd logistics system will substantially improve mutual aid for climate adaptation. As with all CogniCity OSS products, the Alliance will ensure enterprise-level quality prior to its global deployment and that the software meets the highest standards of reliability and (to the greatest extent possible) interoperability with other open source hardware and software in the humanitarian sector.
The growing urgency of climate adaptation and the increasing complexity of disaster response and recovery scenarios create a pressing need for a versatile and scalable crowd-logistics system like CogniCity.Sync. Coordinating diverse communities with evolving needs during disasters and crises demands a robust, community-led logistics system that can facilitate both immediate response and long-term community engagement. By leveraging the power of crowd-logistics, CogniCity.Sync further revolutionizes resource distribution and day-to-day mutual aid efforts, ultimately contributing to the future of climate adaptation. The development of an enterprise-level open source version of CogniCity.Sync with a modular code base, ensuring compatibility with other CogniCity OSS components and standalone deployment, will significantly enhance its applicability and accessibility across diverse scales and contexts. By ensuring high standards of reliability and interoperability, CESA will release a powerful and adaptive crowd-logistics solution to address the growing challenges of climate change and foster resilient communities worldwide.
Description
Learning to adapt to climate change also means coming to terms with especially challenging facts about when and where human settlements are appropriate. CESA is currently working to develop a robust, transparent, and secure software module for community-led financial planning and climate adaptation compensation. The Alliance is committed to supporting high-risk communities when they decide they can no longer afford to remain where they are (or can no longer insure the properties they own) due to climate change. The objective is relatively simple, although its design requires carefully leveraging existing technologies toward new and more ambitious objectives. We must facilitate the compensation of communities who accept the need to retreat (especially from coastal areas) so that this urgent process can occur before a severe disaster event strikes.
To enable participatory and democratic retreat processes at the community scale, CESA has researched available financial instruments that can be used to transfer the value of “retreat properties” into bundled asset groups held in trust; the value of these bundled properties can then be openly assessed against their future value as novel ecologies—whether as storm surge barriers, soil retention systems, protected habitats, etc. When these retreat properties are bundled, de-structured, and replanted, they thus become ecological assets that appreciate in value over time. Working with local and state governments and reinsurance companies to openly assess and financially back this future value, CESA will use CogniCity.Cede to coordinate and compensate community-led retreat and environmental repair with frontline communities around the world.
![Residents in Central Jakarta await rescue by the emergency management agency during severe flooding.]()
As climate change exacerbates natural disasters and threatens the viability of human settlements, there is a growing urgency for proactive, community-led solutions that facilitate climate adaptation before irreversible damage and loss occur. Communities around the world, particularly those in high-risk areas such as coastlines, river valleys, and highly drought-prone landscapes, need innovative financial tools to act on the necessity for retreat while maintaining their livelihoods and dignity. The current lack of accessible open financial instruments and coordinated processes for community-led retreat poses a significant challenge in effectively addressing the climate emergency.
CogniCity.Cede fills this critical gap by providing an open source, accessible, and secure financial technology that can facilitate and compensate communities during the retreat process. This innovative approach not only empowers communities to make informed decisions about their future, but it also recognizes the potential ecological value of transformed retreat properties, such as storm surge barriers, soil retention systems, and protected habitats.
By developing and deploying CogniCity.Cede in partnership with local and state governments, reinsurance companies, and experts across various fields, CESA enables a proactive, equitable, and financially viable approach to climate adaptation that puts communities at the forefront of decision-making and action. The time for a transformative, community-centered solution is now, as the future stability of our planet depends on our collective ability to adapt and thrive in the face of an increasingly unpredictable climate in every region on the planet.
Learning to adapt to climate change also means coming to terms with especially challenging facts about when and where human settlements are appropriate. CESA is currently working to develop a robust, transparent, and secure software module for community-led financial planning and climate adaptation compensation. The Alliance is committed to supporting high-risk communities when they decide they can no longer afford to remain where they are (or can no longer insure the properties they own) due to climate change. The objective is relatively simple, although its design requires carefully leveraging existing technologies toward new and more ambitious objectives. We must facilitate the compensation of communities who accept the need to retreat (especially from coastal areas) so that this urgent process can occur before a severe disaster event strikes.
To enable participatory and democratic retreat processes at the community scale, CESA has researched available financial instruments that can be used to transfer the value of “retreat properties” into bundled asset groups held in trust; the value of these bundled properties can then be openly assessed against their future value as novel ecologies—whether as storm surge barriers, soil retention systems, protected habitats, etc. When these retreat properties are bundled, de-structured, and replanted, they thus become ecological assets that appreciate in value over time. Working with local and state governments and reinsurance companies to openly assess and financially back this future value, CESA will use CogniCity.Cede to coordinate and compensate community-led retreat and environmental repair with frontline communities around the world.
As climate change exacerbates natural disasters and threatens the viability of human settlements, there is a growing urgency for proactive, community-led solutions that facilitate climate adaptation before irreversible damage and loss occur. Communities around the world, particularly those in high-risk areas such as coastlines, river valleys, and highly drought-prone landscapes, need innovative financial tools to act on the necessity for retreat while maintaining their livelihoods and dignity. The current lack of accessible open financial instruments and coordinated processes for community-led retreat poses a significant challenge in effectively addressing the climate emergency.
CogniCity.Cede fills this critical gap by providing an open source, accessible, and secure financial technology that can facilitate and compensate communities during the retreat process. This innovative approach not only empowers communities to make informed decisions about their future, but it also recognizes the potential ecological value of transformed retreat properties, such as storm surge barriers, soil retention systems, and protected habitats.
By developing and deploying CogniCity.Cede in partnership with local and state governments, reinsurance companies, and experts across various fields, CESA enables a proactive, equitable, and financially viable approach to climate adaptation that puts communities at the forefront of decision-making and action. The time for a transformative, community-centered solution is now, as the future stability of our planet depends on our collective ability to adapt and thrive in the face of an increasingly unpredictable climate in every region on the planet.