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URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE I Terry D. Bennett
The time
for change
is now
Here's a look at the role of
geospatial technologies in
urban infrastructure design for
sustainable development
Growth in human population
and economic development
strain the world's finite
resources such as land, water,
materials, food and energy. To
maintain and in some cases,
improve our quality of life, we need
to develop sustainably - such that
our development meets our needs
for natural resources, industrial
products, energy, food, transportation,
shelter, and waste management;
conserves environmental
quality (indoor and outdoor) and
reduces growing social and
economic inequities. With urbanisation
estimated to grow from
around 53% as of this writing to
64% by 2020 and 70% by 2050 and
close to 6.3 billion people inhabit-
ing our urban settings in the near
future - how do we do it? Intrinsic
to sustainable urban infrastructure
design is the planning, design,
construction, operation, maintenance
and disposal of a city's infrastructure.
How do we address urbanisation,
existing infrastructure and new
infrastructure in a synergistic manner?
The question that will continually
be asked is - Can we fix it,
can we change it to match our
future needs or is it more cost
effective to raze and start over?
Which option gives us the best long
term ROI? And finding those
answers will be an exercise in
3-dimensional (3D) geospatial decision-making.
Traditional industry challenges
Within infrastructure construction,
the diverse set of disciplines
involved may include infrastructure
developers or owners, surveyors,
architects, civil and structural engineers,
environmental and geotechnical
engineers, heating and ventilation
specialists, utilities and road
departments of local governments.
Each discipline has traditionally
maintained its own professional
standards, and has conducted its
work independent from the others.
As a result, each discipline has
maintained an island or silo of technology
related to planning, design
and engineering information and
the eventual work product. The true
quality and accuracy of the designs
Geospatial World I September 2010