Motivation
Rapid urban expansion creates several challenges. One of these major challenges is how to guarantee infrastructure remedies that can cope with the stress resulting from a massive, exponentially growing population concentrated in urban centres. Therefore, established cities need to upgrade, maintain and build extensive telecommunication, water, power, and transport networks to control population growth and economic development demands. A good infrastructure is needed to improve leaving standards and progressive societies. At the centre of the urban supply chain, when the city’s transport networks are insufficient to meet its demands, urban societies and economies will be badly impacted, stopping the advantages that such centres of marketplaces and talents bring. Removing the negative financial impacts of a failing or insufficient infrastructure must be a societal and business concern for every urban centre (Wenk, 2022).
Background and Technical Issues
Current status of the problem
Most of our urban infrastructure is failing and ageing. Funding has also not been enough to replace and repair them. The todays’ Engineers are facing the big challenge of restoring the essential structures which support civilization. Currently, in urban centres, a growing population stresses the support systems of the societies, leading to terrorist attacks, accidents, and natural disasters that threaten the existing infrastructural security and safety. These challenges are also caused by the complications of megacities that attract populations of more than ten million people.
Limitations of existing technologies, processes
The limitations of restoring our major urban infrastructures include building bridges, highways, and roads. This is because putting up these infrastructures requires a lot of labour forces and a lot of manpower. The second limitation is putting up these infrastructures. During this time, several parts of the available roads and telecommunication networks must be shut down when the construction is ongoing. This results in more traffic snarl-ups. The other limitation is that it is usually very difficult to affect the infrastructural changes where one already exists, as this requires a lot of excavation and road or telecommunication diversions. Lastly, most cities are already developed. Therefore, finding a space to build or expand these infrastructural lines is difficult (Wenk, 2022).
Ultimate technical goal
The final goal is to link major urban areas with good infrastructural networks. This will promote economic activity, ensuring that major supplies reach the urban centres to support the growing population and business.
Proposed engineering solutions and obstacles
To restore and improve urban infrastructures, engineers need to redesign systems for disposing of sewages and offering clean water. Internet access, cell phones, and cable TV require elaborate infrastructure installation. Advancing solar energy and remote wind resources may add more. Secondly, engineers need to devise methods of labelling and mapping the buried infrastructure. This is because many of the existing ones are deeply buried, leading to many challenges in upgrading and maintaining them. For improvement, the engineers need to begin developing integrated approaches, for example, by establishing transportation hubs, where different transportation elements such as parking lots, bicycle and walking paths, taxis, buses and rail meet (Wenk, 2022).
The major obstacles faced by the engineers regarding restoring major urban infrastructures are population stress that is caused by the ever-growing rural-urban migration (exceeding ten million people), rampant natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes that vandalize the existing roads and telecommunication networks, and the cases of terrorists’ attacks that is a threat to the engineers on the sites (Redondo, 2021).
Engineering Disciplines to the solution
Due to the many challenges and obstacles of restoring and improving urban infrastructures, improving and restoring urban infrastructure and access to clean water will require a team of engineers from the civil engineering discipline. Ensuring constant access to clean water will rely on environmental protection, treatment, pipelines, and hydrology engineering. Improving and restoring urban infrastructures will rely on environmental, construction, transportation, and planning to engineer. This grand engineering challenge needs recognition of social and political factors, safeguarding the artefacts and cultural heritage, and safeguarding the natural environment. Due to the complexity of these challenges, a system of engineering approach is reasonable (Wenk, 2022).
Contribution to the Solution
Improving and restoring urban infrastructure begin with technology. Applying innovative digital technologies such as video cameras and IoT, urban infrastructure promotes the experience of city operators, businesses and citizens. Civil engineers in construction management must master cutting-edge skills to upgrade the current urban infrastructural systems. The engineers will better connect waterways, railways, and motorways. To enhance the traffic circulation, the engineers will expand or open the lanes to enable the traffic to flow smoothly. They will also create bicycle racks in the urban centres to enable electric scooters or bicycles to pass with ease. For the construction of better infrastructures, civil engineers will have to focus more on building bridges to stop traffic trucking. To succeed, they will have to digitalize security (UTSAENGINEER, 2020).
Personal reflection
One of the challenges of urban infrastructure is population stress. I chose this challenge because the earth is a planet endowed with finite resources. However, its current population exploits and consumes them at a very faster rate than anybody can imagine. I intend to contribute to the challenge by emphasizing the need to create new energy sources while simultaneously reversing or preventing the deterioration of the ecosystem. The other challenges are terrorist attacks and natural disasters. These challenges motivate me because they are directly connected to environmental concerns and water quality, which is the key factor in restoring and improving urban infrastructure. I hope to find a solution to the challenge by innovating new technologies to revert the dangers of these problems.
References
Wenk, B. (2022). Restore and Improve Urban Infrastructure. http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/challenges/infrastructure.aspx. Retrieved 2023, from engineering challenges
Redondo, G. (2021). Improvements in Urban Infrastructure. https://bohatala.com/improvements-in-urban-infrastructure/. Retrieved 2023, from boatel
Wenk, B. (2022). Restore and Improve Urban Infrastructure. http://www.engineeringchallenges.org/challenges/infrastructure.aspx. Retrieved 2023, from engineering challenges
UTSAENGINEER, U. T. S. A. E. N. G. I. N. E. E. R. (2020). Researchers collaborate to improve urban infrastructure resilience. https://ceid.utsa.edu/electrical-computer/researchers-collaborate-to-improve-urban-infrastructure-resilience/. Retrieved 2023, from the cedi
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