The Civil Engineering Contractor October 2018 | Page 27

TECHNOLOGY
Older cities like Johannesburg grew by circumstance, with no thought to
long-term planning.
A
global urban agenda, set
by the United Nations and
which South Africa has
adopted, seeks to make cities inclusive,
safe, resilient, and sustainable. This is
in support of the 2030 Agenda on
Sustainable Development. AECOM’s
2018 The Future of Infrastructure report
surveyed over 500 professionals
worldwide. It outlines the issues faced
in delivering infrastructure projects,
as well as promoting solutions, such
as the integrated delivery model
for Africa in particular. No two
countries or continents face the same
challenges; thus, engineers have
taken a custom-made approach to
development. There has been a rise
in the use of terms like ‘smart cities’,
‘sustainable cities’, or ‘cities of the
future’. At face value, this means a
technologically advanced city.
However, in interactions with
engineers, one tends to find that the
term ‘smart’ is open to interpretation
and means different things from
engineer to engineer. Abbas
Jamie, director for innovation and
transformation at Aurecon, says that
despite having the latest technologies
and innovations, these need to be
human centric and applied through
an African lens. “As engineers we
need to embrace human-centric
tools like design thinking to help
us understand and have empathy
for the end user. We are working
closely with organisations like the
World Design Organisation (WDO)
to promote design thinking in solving
wicked or complex problems like
‘smart cities’.”
Archie Rutherford, CEO of the
civils division at Motheo Construction
Group, says that with urban
development, it is important to
create living spaces that encourage
community interaction, rather than
isolation. SMEC’s function manager
in the urban development division,
Deon du Plessis, takes this further by
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