Journal of Mega Infrastructure & Sustainable Development最新文献

{"title":"Proposing the foundations of scAInce by exploring the future of artificially intelligent, sustainable, and resilient megaprojects","authors":"E. Kassens-Noor, Kip Darcy, A. Cojocaru, Ryan Rzepecki, Sunghun Jang, Wei Jiang, Tobias Monzert, Meng Cai, Matthew Crittenden","doi":"10.1080/24724718.2022.2131098","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24724718.2022.2131098","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Artificial intelligence is software based; megaprojects are large physical infrastructures. We use exploratory research in understanding the merger of both by asking what artificially intelligent, sustainable, and resilient megaprojects are and what their underlying theory is. Thus, the goal of the paper is to define an artificially intelligent megaproject and identify its theory. To do so, we conducted a literature review on the two different topics and exemplified current mergers of AI and megaprojects through two cases. We propose a definition for artificially intelligent megaprojects and suggest consequentially an embedded new theory we call scAInce. We suggest that scAInce is a new research field, that explores the influences and impacts of artificial intelligence on our world. We conceptualize how AI megaprojects as virtual AI futures might enable sustainability in our built environment. It ends with contributing a definition of what artificially intelligent megaprojects are. HIGHLIGHTS Defines AI megaprojects as a synergistic and enduring merger of AI software for large-scale infrastructure planning, design, construction, and management Suggests a new research field called scAInce Introduces the theory of scAInce as utopian and dystopian visions of futurists that are starting to emerge in the incremental transition from smart to the intelligent city concept","PeriodicalId":143411,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mega Infrastructure & Sustainable Development","volume":"39 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126482818","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The future of the eHighway system: a vision of a sustainable, climate-resilient, and artificially intelligent megaproject","authors":"R. Linke, Jürgen K. Wilke, Özgür Öztürk, Ferdinand Schöpp, E. Kassens-Noor","doi":"10.1080/24724718.2022.2131087","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24724718.2022.2131087","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to support intelligent and sustainable mobility solutions. For AI to be functional, it must be supplied with reliable data. With the continuous expansion of the data base for AI, it can fill data gaps based on learning effects and thus increase data quality. The electric Highway (eHighway) system as a sustainable mobility solution for long-distance road freight transport is a megaproject where the use of AI can be helpful. As a case study for this paper, the research project ELISA (‘ELektrifizierter, Innovativer Schwerverkehr auf Autobahnen’ = ‘electrified, innovative road freight transport on motorways’) was chosen in which the eHighway has been tested on a 10 km test track in Hesse (Germany) for about 2.5 years. The data on overhead line hybrid trucks and overhead line infrastructure obtained from the project was analysed in terms of their availability and combined to the overall availability of the eHighway system. These results provided the basis for a subsequent SWOT analysis to evaluate the integrability of AI in the eHighway system. The findings from the SWOT analysis show that with the continuous improvement of data availability and quality, the use of AI in the eHighway system is feasible. Energy, cost, and operational improvements in the eHighway system are expected through the use of AI.","PeriodicalId":143411,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mega Infrastructure & Sustainable Development","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129056320","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reducing port city congestion through data analysis, simulation, and artificial intelligence to improve the well-being of citizens","authors":"W. Lehmacher, M. Lind, Jussi Poikonen, Joan Meseguer, José Luis Cárcel Cervera","doi":"10.1080/24724718.2022.2133524","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24724718.2022.2133524","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Many port cities suffer from congestion and greenhouse gas (GHG) and other emissions. City governments and port authorities seek ways to reduce the negative impacts on quality of life, health, climate, and the local economy. Congestion across the United States, United Kingdom and Germany alone cost close to $461 billion in 2017 or $975 per capita. Artificial intelligence and machine learning can help to understand and predict traffic volumes and enable simulation of alternative solutions to smooth flows and reduce congestion. This article reflects on optimising the utilisation of road transport infrastructure to reduce GHG emissions in the Valencia port city environment. This real-life study case shows that data, data sharing and AI systems can contribute to reducing congestion and with that GHG emissions and other negative impacts for port cities.","PeriodicalId":143411,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mega Infrastructure & Sustainable Development","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130659669","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Infrastructure inequities and its effect on poverty reduction across regional states in Ethiopia","authors":"Ambaw Desalegn, Negussie Solomon","doi":"10.1080/24724718.2022.2122671","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24724718.2022.2122671","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Sustainable development aims to enhance the quality of life in an inclusive manner, including economic prosperity, social equity, and environmental protection. Megaprojects are ‘large unique projects’ where public actors play a significant role and are often the conduit of corruption, and eradication of corruption is one of the critical challenges in most parts of the world, particularly the developing countries. Besides, corruption in construction can decrease the efficiency, effectiveness, and equity of infrastructure and services, resulting in the execution of ‘white elephant’ projects that are neither growth-inducing nor relevant to needs. Therefore, lack of access to roads, electricity, mobile phones, and the Internet limits the potential earnings of modern accessibilities and facilities in developing countries, and it also has a negative impact on poverty reduction. Although there are high perceptions about infrastructure inequity in Ethiopia, the difference between relatively developed and underdeveloped regions or states is not clear, especially in the equitable allocation of infrastructure resources. By analysing regional infrastructure, the states are categorised based on the results of the Composite Infrastructure Index, thereby exposing the unequal distribution of infrastructure and services. This paper shows gross inequity of public investments in Ethiopia, hindering the country's nation-building process. In substantially unequal societies, elite groups are more able to manipulate and influence policymakers to their advantage. Understanding the nature and extent of regional inequities in Ethiopia, as exemplified by regional infrastructure differentials, and finding sustainable solutions is imperative to socioeconomic development and shared prosperity.","PeriodicalId":143411,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mega Infrastructure & Sustainable Development","volume":"245 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117012699","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Examining hyperloop hype on Twitter","authors":"Travis Decaminada","doi":"10.1080/24724718.2022.2131095","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24724718.2022.2131095","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Hyperloops are a theorised mode of high-speed transportation that involves moving goods or people through a vacuum tube. Though the idea of a hyperloop is hundreds of years old, it was not until recently that a functional prototype was built. Despite the technology being in its early stages, users on Twitter have already formed unrealistic expectations regarding the technologies potential uses. A review of 6288 original tweets found that over 38% of users overstated the technologies potential benefits, or understated the potential costs of construction. Of users with unrealistic expectations, 48% displayed wildly unrealistic expectations that often involved hyperloops crisscrossing the globe in a matter of years. This is important given that public money is already being spent on the research and development of hyperloops; in part because of advocates championing the technology. Reviewing the discourse surrounding hyperloops can help ensure that the benefits of spending public money are maximised.","PeriodicalId":143411,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mega Infrastructure & Sustainable Development","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127281315","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Whose interests will AI serve? Autonomous agents in infrastructure use","authors":"A. Hintze, Peter T. Dunn","doi":"10.1080/24724718.2022.2131092","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24724718.2022.2131092","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article examines new challenges for sustainability presented by artificial intelligence (AI) in infrastructure megaprojects. We differentiate between the deliberative processes of infrastructure megaproject construction and the everyday uses of such infrastructure, focusing on the latter as both having major sustainability impacts and presenting distinct opportunities for AI intervention. While AI applications are often imagined supporting human decision-making processes, we argue that cases in which AI agents act autonomously without direct human intervention present novel questions about how to achieve sustainable outcomes. Specifically, we differentiate between the setting of AI objective functions in the development stages and the control of unanticipated behaviours once an AI system can act independently. After illustrating applications of AI in energy grid management and automated driving, we examine how such systems could operate either in support of shared sustainability interests or to advance their private interests.","PeriodicalId":143411,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mega Infrastructure & Sustainable Development","volume":"36 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132295941","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"High Volume Transport (HVT) Applied Research Programme funded by Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, UK: Report on Research Knowledge Exchange Event on Response of Transport Systems in Poor Countries to COVID-19, 1 December 2021, IMC HQ offices, Redhill, Surrey","authors":"Helen Platt","doi":"10.1080/24724718.2022.2064089","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24724718.2022.2064089","url":null,"abstract":"On 1 December 2021 the High Volume Transport (HVT) Applied Research Programme hosted its third Research Knowledge Exchange (RKE) event to share and explore the evidence base into how transport systems in the poorest countries responded to the challenges of COVID-19. This event looked to offer lessons for the future development, use, and adaptation of transport infrastructure as an important strategic response to this pandemic and similar events that might follow. HVT is a five year, £18 million investment by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) to undertake research into issues of sustainable transport development across Africa and South Asia. It aims to help inform the decisions of policy makers in low income countries to make road and rail transport greener, safer, more accessible, affordable and inclusive, and assist good investment decisions that will in particular help drive sustainable economic development and poverty reduction simultaneously being mindful of environmental concerns, especially climate change. When the pandemic emerged in 2020, the HVT research programme identified that transport systems would play a crucial role in mitigating the spread of the disease and also keep economies moving, yet there was very little evidence of what worked and what did not in these new uncertain times. The research programme awarded 20 research projects in an attempt to bridge this gap, which formed a portfolio of COVID19 Response and Recovery Transport Research initiatives. The RKE half day virtual event launched a compendium highlighting the findings from all 20 projects followed by exploration of the critical issues that the research uncovered, with the aim of supporting sustainable and resilient transport systems for the future in the poorest countries of the world. Nearly 100 participants attended with registrants from 51 countries, with a range of backgrounds including policy makers, researchers, civil society representatives and transport and development specialists. An opening plenary gave an overview of the research followed by three workshops on: Inclusion, Urban Transport and Economic Resilience, eincluding presentations from the authors of seven of the 20 research projects. This event was seen to be of potential interest to the readers of the journal because it offered an insight into the potential use of infrastructure (in this case transport infrastructure) at different scales and sectors in response to a global mega event (still ongoing) with potentially catastrophic implications for development world wide if unaddressed. A review of the event provides an opportunity to reflect on whether","PeriodicalId":143411,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mega Infrastructure & Sustainable Development","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-08-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134122335","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How renewables are transforming electricity grids: an analysis of Australia’s integrated system plan","authors":"T. Longden","doi":"10.1080/24724718.2022.2102815","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24724718.2022.2102815","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Most countries will require mega programmes of investment to support the transition to higher shares of renewable energy. Large increases in roof-top solar and other grid-scale renewables are changing the way that electricity grids operate and are designed. This paper focuses on the case of Australia, where the Australian Energy Market Operator develops a bi-annual Integrated System Plan (ISP) to provide advice on the development of the electricity grid. The ISP is based on modelling of the future energy system and, accordingly, accounts for a rise in distributed energy generation and other technologies, such as batteries and electric drive vehicles. There are many lessons that can be learned from regions with high shares of renewables, including the importance of grid interconnectivity and storage. This example of rapid change has occurred in a country that did not have a robust national decarbonisation policy, but does have excellent wind and solar resources.","PeriodicalId":143411,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mega Infrastructure & Sustainable Development","volume":"35 4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-08-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129232555","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"GDP revisited","authors":"B. Field","doi":"10.1080/24724718.2021.2087962","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24724718.2021.2087962","url":null,"abstract":"Economic progress as measured by growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has long been the principal objective of economic policy. GDP is however simply a measure of economic activity. By mistakenly conflating such economic growth with improvements in living standards, welfare, and prosperity, politicians and other public policy makers have been persuaded to embrace the growth ethic with almost monotheistic fervour. GDP has as a result become a nigh universal measure of economic improvement and well-being, yet its use for such purpose is certainly inappropriate and almost wholly inadequate, especially if broader-based sustainability imperatives are taken into account. Economic activity, welfare, and sustainability are distinct concepts that are difficult to capture in a single indicator, and GDP was never intended to reflect anything more than productivity, i.e., the level of economic activity as measured by marketed output. Since its modern-day incarnation in the 1930s, economists have been aware that GDP does not measure welfare although Simon Kuznets (1934), one of its architects who is often mistakenly referred to as the father of GDP, argued at the outset that it should endeavour to do so. Unfortunately, the needs of wartime production following the concept’s inception favoured a more pragmatic focus on measurement of the level of economic activity, which is why GDP was eventually structured as it is. It has been suggested by some commentators that this is not a serious problem because there is in any event a positive correlation between GDP growth and economic welfare. Although this may be true in the early stages of economic development, as economies mature the two indicators start to diverge as the sustainability and ramifications of unfettered economic growth become an issue. Negative externalities such as pollution, environmental degradation, and the depletion of both natural resources and biodiversity (none of which are properly captured by GDP) impose significant social costs and start to compromise economic welfare, challenging the idea that economic growth is always synonymous with improved well-being. Because GDP does not properly reflect the economic or ecological sustainability of activity, more and bigger is not always better, a problematic proposition for mega infrastructure projects that increasingly need to dovetail with sustainable development parameters, and one that has been brought into particularly sharp focus by climate change. The essential purpose of economic activity should be to foster human development, welfare, and well-being in a sustainable manner, and not to simply facilitate and promote economic growth for its own sake. Given the complexity and interconnectedness of the multiple social and environmental challenges that are now prevalent at all spatial scales, there is clearly need to go beyond GDP as currently formulated and to embrace criteria that explicitly address the links between the economy, environm","PeriodicalId":143411,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mega Infrastructure & Sustainable Development","volume":"17 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122119252","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Roads, runways and resistance: from newbury bypass to extinction rebellion","authors":"Daniel Durrant","doi":"10.1080/24724718.2021.2087961","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/24724718.2021.2087961","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":143411,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Mega Infrastructure & Sustainable Development","volume":"31 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121056317","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}