Case Study
Dynamic Infrastructure Systems: Advancing Sustainable Urbanization and Climate Change
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Motivation
“Developing and maintaining infrastructure (e.g., roads, airports, water supply, communication networks, power plants, or hospitals) is a priority in a rapidly changing world. However, the gap between infrastructure needs and investments will continue to increase in the coming years, mainly impacting mid- and low-income countries. This problem is aggravated by the fact that traditional long-term planning approaches often lead to under- or over-designing infrastructure with the corresponding investment risks and environmental impacts.” (Abstract, p. 1)
Additionally, infrastructure accounts for 40% of global CO2 emissions, and the investment gap for infrastructure in mid- and low-income countries continues to grow. The traditional approach of static, long-term infrastructure planning often results in inefficiently designed projects, leading to investment risks and environmental impacts. There is an urgent need to shift infrastructure development toward flexible, adaptive strategies that better address the challenges posed by rapid urbanization and climate change, and better align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Methodologies
- Real Options Analysis: Used to embed flexibility into infrastructure projects, this methodology evaluates the cost-effectiveness of options to modify designs and operations in response to future uncertainties.
Insights
- Continuous Adaptation in Infrastructure: DIS attempts to leverage the idea of continuous adaptation to make it easier to adjust and change infrastructure projects to maintain service and sustainability.
- Short-Term Planning Minimizes Overdesign Risks: DIS plans for shorter time horizons to avoid overdesigning and and better minimize costs and emissions. These short-term plans must be balanced with long-term strategies to avoid.
- Diverse Stakeholder Commitment Required: To successfully implement improvements to infrastructure design and management, buy-in is required from all stakeholders including public and private entities.
Training
Relevant lectures:
- Paradigm change in engineering systems and planning
- How to optimise design and decision-making under uncertainty
- How to manage the design process
