Spatial information models as the backbone of smart infrastructure

Climate change is perhaps the greatest challenge to our life on this planet, with energy and the scarcity of resources being major factors in shaping the landscape of decision-making in industry and public policy.In the UK, the building stock comes first, and transportation comes second in being accounted for carbon emissions.Hence, the efficiency of buildings and the urban network that ties them together needs to be treated as top priority in order to meet the targets set by Paris Climate Change Agreement.In public policy, the demand for strategies to address efficiency in green buildings and green infrastructure mobilized innovation in the construction sector, which had implications on the design, construction and operation of buildings.Similarly, in the smart cities and smart grid sectors, innovation was mainly mobilized to respond to challenges underlying transport planning, and to improve the efficiency in gas, electricity and water supply networks.Industry is leading the way to drive these innovations, but with no strong ground in building and urban morphology, there is a risk that any technologies applied might become redundant over time.