Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructures, 3rd Edition

Dear Colleagues,

The design, construction, operation, and maintenance of urban infrastructure are permanent activities that shape the built environment and impact the sustainability of cities as these are typically large projects and require a high degree of intervention. In recent times, infrastructure projects have been developed in an environment in which there is a growing demand from society and the production system for smarter, more sustainable, and more resilient cities. This development, combined with global challenges such as those imposed by climate change and the need for an effective energy transition, has accelerated urban growth and continued to transform the urban space and the progress of technology. All of these demands have intensified the need for new approaches and methods aimed at increasing the intelligence, sustainability, and resilience of urban infrastructure with optimization, simulation, decision making, and several other tools and methods being used to address these challenges. New features such as Industry 5.0, automation, and blockchain are key modern features included in recent studies and publications that are also expected to emerge in the design, planning, and operation of modern infrastructure.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to integrate the three complementary axes of intelligence, sustainability, and resilience through two key themes: the first focusing on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of design, construction, operation, monitoring, and maintenance processes; and the second focusing on improving infrastructure performance.

Contributions are welcome from academics, practitioners, and students from any discipline or country, and multidisciplinary contributions are encouraged. Topics of interest for this Special Issue include, but are not limited to:

• Infrastructure life cycle sustainability assessment;
• Life cycle costing;
• Infrastructure projects and works;
• Sensing technologies, real-time data acquisition, and analysis;
• Smart infrastructure management systems;
• Building information modelling (BIM);
• Building energy simulation (BES);
• Cleaner and leaner production;
• Smart and sustainable infrastructure project management practices;
• Smart and sustainable design, construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning practices;
• Sustainability indicators;
• Methodologies and tools to reduce the environmental, economic, and social impacts of infrastructure projects;
• Drivers for increasing the intelligence, sustainability, and resilience of infrastructure projects;
• Green infrastructure;
• Optimization, simulation, and decision-making methods;
• Advanced design, construction, operation, and maintenance techniques;
• Infrastructure safety;
• Structural health monitoring;
• Blockchain.

Dr. Bruno Barzellay Ferreira da Costa
Dr. Ana Evangelista
Prof. Dr. Assed Naked Haddad
Dr. Diego A. Vasco
Dr. Ana Briga-Sá
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Infrastructures is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• sustainability
• resilience
• built environment
• infrastructure
• smart cities

• Smart, Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructures, 2nd Edition in Infrastructures (11 articles)

Title: Design and Application of a novel fuzzy multi-criteria decision framework for maintenance-critical maritime infrastructure evaluation
Authors: Ehidiame Ibazebo 1*; Vimal Savsani 1,2; Arti Siddhpura 1; Milind Siddhpura; Poonam Savsani 1,3
Affiliation: 1 Engineering Institute of Technology, 6 & 8 Thelma Street, West Perth, 6005, Australia. 2 Canadore College, North ay, Canada 3 Cambrian College, Sudbury, Canada
Abstract: The maintenance of critical maritime infrastructure is essential for ensuring the safe, reliable, and efficient operations of seaports and other marine facilities. This paper proposes a novel fuzzy multi-criteria decision framework (F-MCDM) for evaluating maintenance practices and culture of maintenance-critical maritime infrastructure (MCMI), with a particular focus on dockside cranes, used for loading and unloading cargo. The proposed framework incorporates three distinct multi-criteria decision-making tools, namely: Step-wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA), Weighted Aggregate Sum Product Assessment (WASPAS), and Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). Fuzzy logic is incorporated into the framework to enhance the precision and robustness of the evaluation process. To form the basis of assessment, the framework is structured around five key maintenance practice criteria: planning and scheduling, data collection and analysis, documentation and record keeping, maintenance personnel training and competency – as well as four important maintenance culture criteria – leadership commitment, proactive and preventive approach, safety and compliance focus, and continuous improvement and learning. To validate the framework, an empirical evaluation is conducted, analyzing maintenance practices and culture across six Nigerian seaports. Data collection utilizes a questionnaire administered to relevant maintenance experts in the ports, ensuring a comprehensive and expert-informed analysis. The data collected was then analyzed using the fuzzy multi-criteria decision framework. The results provide valuable and actionable insights into current maintenance practices and maintenance culture of the ports, identifying areas for improvement.