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 intended 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 proposed 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. She insisted that the Envision framework will benefit not only KAEC, but new cities globally too.
Cho is right by saying that the use of the Envision rating system would greatly benefit a new city. The green development of its roads particularly would benefit a new city societally and ecologically, encourage the use of sustainable materials, and also as a result, reduce its maintenance problems in the long run.
It was observed that in many cities, urbanisation takes place at the expense of rural areas, which exacerbates the difference socially, economically and environmentally behind urban areas (Zhang, Wu, Skitmore, Jiang, 2015). Therefore, research had been done to explore sustainable development between urban and rural areas through structured construction of public infrastructure and roads. In the original article, Cho believes that the use of Envision rating system would serve as a direction for these improvements to take place. According to Georgoulias (2015), the categorical interpretation in the Envision rating system not only provides clear direction for engineers to strive for well-rounded solutions while considering the needs of communities, but also consider the preservative nature of planned sustainable development and how their conservation efforts might result in the future.
The Envision Rating system also encourages the use of sustainable materials.
There are categories within the rating system that award points based on the use of recycled or reclaimed material. This helps to minimise resource consumption by avoiding materials originating from distant sources, and reduces over-dependence on scarce and natural resources. Muralikrishna and Manickam (2017) stated that in the long term, the responsible use of natural resources at present will help to make sure that resources remain available for prospective industrial developments further ahead.
The encouraged use of sustainable materials can also beneficially relieve maintenance issues. For example, the usage of conventional asphalt— which, apart from its strength and durability, are usually impervious and hydrophobic— can result in flooding in the event of heavy downpour. Molenaar (2013) showed that the use of sustainable porous asphalt however, allows stormwater to sift through its surface into the soil subsurface. The pervious nature of the material reduces the risk of such floodings. Cho stated how the integration of sustainable techniques into highway constructions in Peru and Mexico had welcomed many benefits. This holds even truer as sustainable designs can concurrently reduce the risk of damage on roads. In many cities, their municipal water supply pipelines run underneath or along its network of roads. Dislodgement and cracking of these water pipes can occur from unsustainable design at construction (Molenaar, 2013). The resulting water leakages can form multiple potholes under the surface of their roads (Vijetha, 2016). In contrast, according to Moe and Handojo (2017), the sustainable use of rubberised bitumen for road pavement introduces a trait of flexibility on the surface. This material absorbs some of the shearing and bending induced from its surrounding movements. This greatly reduces the frequency of water leakages arising from the inflexibility of conventional asphalt.
Roads are the arteries of a city, where not only resources flow in-and-out for its economy to flourish, but also for its citizens back-and-forth to connect with one another. Apart from the economic, social and environmental benefits that Cho emphasised accompanying the use of a structured guideline such as the Envision rating system, sustainable road constructions can provide reduced maintenance upkeep. Engineers can hopefully be influenced to follow the Envision guidelines to seek the use of greener materials, which would eventually improve a city's environmental responsibility.
References:
Cho, H. (2014). Developing sustainable infrastructure in new cities.
Retrieved from: https://newcities.org/evaluating-sustainable-infrastructure-development-new-cities/
Georgoulias, A. (2015, February). The Envision Rating System for Sustainable Infrastructure: Development, Applications, and the Potential for Lebanon. Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a62a/b52bec6923442f3661055d045ebb78e62ed9.pdf
Moe, A. L., Handojo, D. U. (2017). Crumb rubber modified bitumen in open graded wearing course of flexible pavement. Open Journal of Civil Engineering, 7(2), 166-167. doi: 10.4236/ojce.2017.72010
Molenaar, A. (2013). Durable and sustainable road constructions for developing countries. Retrieved from: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877705813003615
Muralikrishna I. V., Manickam, V. (2017, January 23). Environmental Management: Science and Engineering for Industry. Elsevier Inc. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780128119891000026
Zhang, X., Wu, Y., Skitmore, M., Jiang, S. (2015, November 16). Sustainable infrastructure projects in balancing urban–rural development: towards the goal of efficiency and equity. Journal of Cleaner production, 107(1), 445-454. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.09.068
No comments:
Post a Comment