It has seen rail networks and stations turn into ghost towns and our streets during lockdowns and “stay-at-home” orders to become de - serted. The projects we work on have changed, with adjustments to project schedules, and in extreme cases, complete cancellation. It will also change the way assets are operated in the future, requiring new processes to be adopted to ensure the trust of passengers is restored, so people feel safe to return to public transport, their offices, and public places. I don’t think anyone could have predicted just how big a negative ef - fect the global health pandemic would has had on our lives, but we must also recognize that it has created a lot of new opportunities, and can be a business driver for change for the better. For example, many now expect that working from home will become part of a better work- life balance, so communication and collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and Bentley’s ProjectWise 365 are increasingly impor - tant for many. I think most will agree that the global pandemic has been a wake-up call, that change happens and sometimes we have no power over it. Equally though, the experience of the last year has shown what we can do when forced, and is an indicator to the level of opportunity that change provides if it is part of a strategy for delivering better business outcomes versus a reaction to challenges encountered. Reimagine the New Normal Now “Now is the time to start reimagining our industry and how organiza - tions can emerge in the next normal from a position of strength,” said McKinsey & Company’s report from May 2020 titled How construction can emerge stronger after coronavirus . We have to find safe, sustainable ways of overcoming the challenges we encounter in what is a very com - plex industry, and in the short term they advocate increased digitization, remote working, and a greater reliance on BIM – advancing it to include 4D and 5D simulation to re-plan and reoptimize project schedules. The report also identifies digital-twin solutions as a means of providing current and ongoing feedback plus insight to the decision processes. Longer term, the case for digital tools proven to increase productivity becoming even stronger, an acceleration and automation across the design and construction phases, including through the increased use of off-site construction, where working in more easily controlled environ - ments makes it easier to keep people safe and can drive up quality. This mirrors our belief at Bentley Systems that there is a lot that we can do to help our users deliver improved business outcomes through the use of advanced digital technologies that support activities across the lifecycle of infrastructure assets. That might be through smarter deci - sions that help target project investment, optimize design, enable the use of different materials or methods of construction, save money, or enhance safety. But, the bottom line is that the decisions we are making
Reimagine the Future of Transportation By Steve Cockerell
By 2050, the world’s population is expected to increase by about 2 billion people, from 7.9 billion to 9.7 billion. And, while growth rates vary greatly across different regions, in the eyes of the United Nations, the future of the world’s population is most definitely urban. Around 55 percent of the world’s population live in urban areas, and in the United States the figure is already 80 percent. And, it is the combination of a growing population and increased urbanization that is placing a huge amount of strain on the infrastructure assets that support nearly every aspect of life. However, I would argue that it is our roads, railroads, and bridges that will be most affected. As for the foreseeable future, these critical networks are the only Carbon dioxide is now widely recognized as the primary driver for climate change, and around 70 percent of the world’s emissions can be traced to infrastructure. Every infrastructure asset, large or small, has a carbon impact when it is built – through the design, materials, and construction methods we adopt, but also throughout their operational life, through the carbon-heavy behaviors they support. way to keep our cities, and our countries moving. Our Future Must Be More Sustainable With figures from the International Energy Agency (IEA) indicating that transport accounts for around one-fifth of all global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, it is road vehicles that account for three quarters of the 8 billion ton total number. Nearly half, 45.1 percent, is you and me, with passenger movement including cars, motorcycles, buses, and taxis that are the culprit, while at the other end of the scale, rail, and transit emits very little – only 1 percent. So who’s problem is it? Rachel Skinner, the current president of the UK’s Institution of Civil Engineers, recently said, “There is no path to delivering net-zero by 2050 that doesn’t run through de-carbonizing transport ,” and continued, “Significant reductions in carbon emissions need to start now.” So, while it requires political and economic support, as well as social change, it is the professionals that design, build, and operate the world’s infrastructure that have the greatest potential to make the changes necessary – to reimagine the future of infrastructure, for a better tomorrow. Make Change Part of Your Strategy Something we cannot ignore is the effect that COVID-19 has had on all our lives over the last year to 18 months, and the fact that, like it or not, the suffering, destabilization of the global economy and upending of the lives of billions of people around the world has forced everyone to change.
today really do matter for a better tomorrow. Data-driven Decisions with Digital Twins
The infrastructure industry is not unfamiliar with change. Around 30 years ago, triggered by CAD and hardware advancements, we saw the shift from desktops to servers, to today where mobile technology and
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