Sustainability and Resilience of Engineering Assets

Dear Colleagues,

The frequency and severity of natural or man-induced disaster events, such as floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, pandemics, hazardous material spills, groundwater contamination, structural failures, explosions, etc., as well as their impacts, have greatly increased during recent decades due to population growth and extensive urbanization, amongst other factors. The World Bank estimates that the cost of the vulnerabilities of cities and communities due to these types of disaster risks could reach more than USD 300 billion per year by 2030. However, it has been argued that investments improving the quality and resilience of engineered physical assets that are the backbone of modern societies, such as infrastructure, industrial facilities and buildings, can significantly contribute to more sustainable and prosperous societies.

Engineered assets are key to the delivery of essential services such as transport, food, water, electricity supply, health and safety, etc. Some of these physical assets are integrated into asset systems and national or regional networks with life cycles extending several decades or even centuries. It is, therefore, of great importance that the strategies and life cycle decisions such as those related to short- and long-term capital investment planning, maintenance strategies, operational plans, and asset disposal lead to the maximization of the value that can be derived from these assets. Moreover, it is essential that the achievement of these goals is sustained in time.

Organizations dealing with engineering assets, both public and private, must, therefore, integrate sustainability and resilience concerns into everyday operations, alongside budgets that are often restricted and all the while having to satisfy demanding performance requirements under risky and uncertain environments.

The present Special Issue intends to comprise a selection of papers reporting the latest research and case studies discussing the trends and emerging strategies addressing these challenges, with contributions regarding how asset management principles and techniques can help push the boundaries of sophistication and innovation to improve the life cycle management of engineered assets toward more sustainable and resilient cities and societies being welcome.

Papers submitted to this Special Issue will be subject to a rigorous peer-review procedure with the aim of a rapid and wide dissemination of research results, developments, and applications.

Dr. Nuno Marques de Almeida
Prof. Dr. Adolfo Crespo Márquez
Guest Editors

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