Smart Infrastructure: A Vision for the Role of the Civil Engineering Profession in Smart Cities

Smart city programs provide a range of technologies that can be applied to solve infrastructure problems associated with ageing infrastructure and increasing demands. The potential for infrastructure and urban improvement remains unrealized, however, due to technical, financial, and social constraints and criticisms that limit the implementation of smart cities concepts for infrastructure management. The discussion presented here provides a review of smart technologies including sensors, crowdsourcing and citizen science, actuators, data transmission, Internet of Things, big data analytics, data visualization, and blockchain, which can be used for infrastructure management. Smart infrastructure programs are reviewed to explore how enabling technologies have been applied across civil engineering domains, including transportation systems, water systems, air quality, energy infrastructure, solid waste management, construction engineering and management, structures, and geotechnical systems. Gaps in the application of smart technologies for infrastructure systems are identified, and we highlight how the civil engineering profession can adopt new roles toward the development of smart cities applications. These roles are: (1) master designer: civil engineers can identify ready applications of enabling technologies to improve the delivery of urban resources and services; (2) steward: civil engineers must account for both the environmental and societal impacts of smart infrastructure applications; (3) innovator and integrator: civil engineers should integrate across diverse sectors and groups of experts to develop smart infrastructure programs; (4) manager of risk: civil engineers should manage existing and growing risks of natural disasters, emergencies, and climate change; they should also manage new vulnerabilities in the privacy and security of individuals and households that are introduced through smart technologies; and (5) leader and decision maker: civil engineers can take a lead in smart infrastructure discussions and policy development.