The role of life-cycle civil engineering practices in smart and sustainable cities

Abstract

Globally, civil infrastructure and our built environment is being embedded with dense sensing networks. These networks form the technological foundation of “smart cities” and enable a new, data-driven era of infrastructure engineering for increased lifecycle performance. But smart cities require more than simply embedding IT hardware into existing urban infrastructure, or the application of artificial intelligence to analyze municipal data streams. This paper discusses the set of physical infrastructures, digital technologies, regulations and policies, financing mechanisms, community outreach, businesses and business models, partnerships, institutions, and other engagement mechanisms that must be established in concert with each other to provide a high quality of life in smart and sustainable cities. Specifically, the role of infrastructure life-cycle evaluation is studied in the context of smart city traffic management systems. Results show that smart city traffic management can result in significant reductions in life cycle impacts associated with urban mobility and transportation.