[Draft 2] Summary of "Developing Sustainable Infrastructure of New Cities"

In the article “Developing sustainable infrastructure in new cities”, Cho (2014) expressed the importance of sustainable infrastructure in a metropolitan setting and identified key areas in determining how infrastructure can add value to the community. She discussed how due to economic-driven developments in new cities being affected by metropolitan challenges, enhancements in functionality and durability of infrastructure are necessary to keep up with these developments. As an Impact King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) Fellow, Cho also explained how she intends to apply the Envision sustainability rating system as an impartial guideline to evaluate sophisticated infrastructure development. The article listed two highways built in Mexico and Peru that followed the Envision framework and highlighted how they both have had economic, social and environmental benefits. In the course of her Fellowship, Cho also “aims to provide an Envision evaluation on a major planned road that is expected to be a main entry point and arterial road in King Abdullah Economic City”, to satisfy KAEC’s extensive sustainable infrastructure development.


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To a large extent, I agree with the article that sustainable developments based on a carefully-reviewed framework can benefit communities. Well-structured projects with objective guidelines forms the skeleton of a city. I particularly believe that the responsible development of a city's roads helps pave its foundation.

References:

Cho, H. (2014). Developing Sustainable Infrastructure in New Cities
Retrieved from https://newcities.org/evaluating-sustainable-infrastructure-development-new-cities/

[Draft 1] Summary of Developing Sustainable Infrastructure of New Cities

In the article “Developing sustainable infrastructure in new cities”, Cho (2014) expressed the importance of sustainable infrastructure in a metropolitan setting and identified key areas in determining how infrastructure can add value to the community. Cho stated that economic-driven developments in new cities are affected by metropolitan challenges and therefore enhancement in functionality and durability of infrastructure are necessary to keep up with these developments.  As an Impact King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC) Fellow, Cho also explains how she intends to apply the Envision sustainability rating system as an impartial guideline to evaluate sophisticated infrastructure development. Cho named the Neuvo Nexcaxa- Ávila Camacho Highway in Mexico as fitting reference to how the Envision rating system would tackle these economic, social and environmental effects. In the course of the Fellowship, Cho “aims to provide an Envision evaluation on a major planned road that is expected to be a main entry point and arterial road in King Abdullah Economic City”, to satisfy KAEC’s extensive sustainable infrastructure development.

[Assignment 1] Formal Letter

Subject: Self-Introduction

Dear Professor Blackstone,


My name is Tan How Wei, and I am writing to you to introduce myself as one of your students in your effective communication classes. I graduated with a diploma in Environmental Management and Water Technology from Singapore Polytechnic. Despite belonging to the school of architecture, this diploma had a lot of engineering elements— which was a plus-point for me, given that my unwavering interest in engineering was able to be further nurtured.

As a child, I spent most of my time exhausting the encyclopaedia collection at home. Back then, even though I did not have the capacity to understand the complex calculations and designs behind the feats of engineering I had read about, I was able to appreciate their beauty. Every single thing that we use today was once a mere drifting idea in someone's head; he/she had the knowledge to make the ideas come true and was committed to make it real, and now we can enjoy the fruits of his/her labour. This admiration was what drove me to seek an undergraduate degree in engineering.

I believe one of my communication strengths is that I am not shy to present to strangers. In fact, it excites me to be able to share something in my head to another completely separate being. People have told me that they liked how I simplify concepts in ways that are easily understood even by laypeople.

My weakness in communication is how I can easily go off-tangent. Sometimes, even though I feel that the concepts only make sense when presented together, people only need concise details. It is like having a Rube Goldberg machine for show-and-tell, but being restricted to displaying one small part of it.

My goal for this module is to learn to filter unnecessary details in my presentations. I also have not had to present information in a formal setting in a while. I hope to regain the ability to choose an appropriate tone of presentation.

Under your guidance, I hope I will be much better at effective communication than the mess I am now. I really look forward to our upcoming lessons together with the rest of my group.


Yours sincerely,

Tan How Wei
SIE2016 Tutorial Group 5


Edited: 19/9/19

Commented on:
Venjamin
Jun Heng
Sangara

Task 3: the Importance of communication skills for engineers

"Employers identify communication as one of the basic competencies every graduate should have, asserting that the ability to communicate is valuable for obtaining employment and maintain successful job performance." - Sherwyn Morreal, Michael Osborn & Judy Pearson, Professors of Communication (2000)

I believe they were emphasising the importance of adequate and proper communication skills for people seeking new employment or even those who are already employed.
Knowing how to present yourself well and being able to sell your skills effectively is key to impressing potential employers and obtaining employment.
For graduates who had already landed a job, communication skills still cannot be ignored. It is needed for everyday processes. Being able to exchange information and instructions across the chain of command is always essential to being effective in a workplace.

The essence of the quote would be to highlight that the inability to communicate well would be a severe handicap to anyone.


[Edited: 10/9/19 17:22]

It's-a me, How Wei!

Hello, my name is How Wei, currently a student from Singapore Institute of Technology pursuing a BEng in Sustainable Infrastructure Engineering (Building Services).

I had graduated with a Diploma in Environmental Management and Water Technology from Singapore Polytechnic. Its internship programme placed me in environmental baseline testing, where we monitored the critical changes in the environment surrounding various premises. The laws and code of practice regarding environmental baselines can be pretty harsh if the environmental parameters are found to be exceeding permitted levels. Even fresh and entirely new construction works can be halted/called-off if the environmental parameters were jialat from the start.

I also had some work experience related to the water supply aspect of facility management from working at PUB, where we had to ensure every building management maintains a clean and effective water supply system to their residents/offices. There's a whole array of things that can really go wrong even with the simplest of water system.

In fact, because of the fault-prone nature of water systems, I ended up learning some basic plumbing due to the amount of time spent beside professional plumbers (and sometimes doing it myself because of unpunctual contractors).