Purpose The financial and economic risks associated with high-rise building projects are many. They make project stakeholders to undergo financial difficulties. However, very few past studies have discussed the management of these risks. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to provide a guideline for the effective management of these financial and economic risks associated with high-rise apartment building projects in Sri Lanka. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted the mixed research approach. A literature review and semi-structured interviews were used to identify the financial/economic risk factors of high-rise apartment building projects and their risk response measures. The data obtained were used for a questionnaire survey, and the findings were analysed using the mean score method. They were validated using pattern matching. The risk response measures that were identified were ranked according to their effectiveness. Findings The findings revealed that “financial problems arising from errors in estimating” is the most significant financial and economic risk factor faced by the property developers involved in high-rise apartment building projects, while “poor contract management” is the most significant financial and economic risk factor faced by the contractors of these projects. Originality/value The study recommends a guideline to manage, using effective risk response measures, the financial and economic risk factors that are significant in high-rise apartment building projects.
In the United Kingdom (UK), recent developments in the construction industry have increased the demand for digitised infrastructure, which facilitates the investigation of the as-is performance of assets. This establishes the need to create and maintain up-todate digital copies of infrastructure assets, often labelled as Digital Twins. Digital twins are obtained by converting the unstructured data formats of the real-world assets, such as point clouds, into high-level digital representations. Yet, only few assets today have usable digital twins because of the high costs of the latter. This counteracts the benefits of the twins and reduces dramatically their true potential. Hence, there is a pressuring need to automate the process of creating digital twins. Geometric digital twin, the most basic form of the twin, contains only the geometry of the physical asset. This paper reviews the work done in computer vision, geometry processing, and civil engineering fields to determine the potential that exists for automatically producing geometric digital twins of infrastructure.
In broader terms, a Smart City improves the quality of life of its citizens through the effective use of innovative (digital) solutions. While innovative Smart City solutions keep growing, attention has been paid to resilience-making within Smart Cities, recognising that disasters are unavoidable. In light of the characteristics of a Smart City (smartness requirements) being inchoate and vague, different Smart Cities develop their own smartness criteria. Regardless of the Smart City type, smartness criteria need to adequately embed resilience. Integrating the resilience concept provides a strategic direction for Smart Cities and there is a significant positive relationship between the two concepts, Smart Cities, and urban resilience. Although Smart Cities are increasingly growing in popularity all around the world, there is a lack of research to guide a Smart City to define its smartness reflecting on disaster resilience. This paper intends to address this research gap by setting out a set of smartness criteria (with particular reference to urban (city) resilience) which should compulsorily feature in any type of Smart City that desires to be resilient. The study undertakes a systematic literature review to provide a new dimension, depth, and value to existing research discoveries. The findings are presented by structuring ten urban (city) resilience dimensions built upon six Smart City dimensions: smart economy, smart governance, smart people, smart mobility, smart living, and smart environment. Our findings make a niche contribution to knowledge by guiding Smart Cities that intend to build, enhance, and/or sustain resilience, to develop smartness criteria/ smart characteristics reflecting on urban resilience. The research outcomes will be of large importance to Smart City policymakers, administrators, project managers, etc. to efficiently manage extreme events timely with optimal resource allocation and will be of specific interest to all the stakeholders (for instance, the innovators) in a Smart City ecosystem who may use the research outcomes as a decision-making tool.
Distinctive nature of the problems a city holds, baptise a "smart city", which is a term, at the same time, is blamed for being befogged. Although defining the term "a smart city" is worth taking a risk, the maturity of the smart city definition in terms of practical use and research has not been reached. Even if it is defined, it would highly depend on the context and unique nature of cities. Yet there are city components that are only found in smart cities. A study of these components would be the most practical way of understanding "what make a smart city". Therefore, this study aims to analyse literature, review definitional elements of smart cities, and derive a comprehensive list of smart city components. Not being a one size fits all, smart city definitions are often interchangeable with other well-defined city conceptions. Those conceptions are a source to outline what smart cities are. Therefore, the terms digital city, intelligent city, ubiquitous city, global city, and sustainable city are compared with smart city characteristics. In the same way, definitional elements from ten latest literature sources were identified. Smart city components identified in the literature were then reviewed and combined to form a list of components under the themes; smart economy, smart people, smart living, smart environment, smart mobility, and smart governance which were supposed to integrate with Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure. While these components are the frontline, smart cities also intent to ensure urban, public services, and citizen development. With this, the paper presents a holistic summary of the characteristics that define the smartness of a smart city.
Despite advancements, Smart Cities encounter hazards. Smart Cities’ higher reliance on interconnected systems and networks makes them susceptible to risks beyond conventional ones, leading to cascading effects. Hence, the effective use of technological innovations is vital. This effective use involves understanding the existing use of technology innovations for resilience making in Smart Cities and the wise utilisation of them as suitable for different contexts. However, there is a research gap for a fundamental study that synthesises the emerging and disruptive technologies that are being used to improve the disaster resilience in Smart Cities and how they can be classified. Therefore, this research aimed to address that need, so that a Smart City evaluating the technologies/tools for disaster resilience could wisely utilise the available resources and prioritise the most suitable for their context-specific needs. Following a comprehensive literature review, the study identified 24 technologies and/or tools for creating, sustaining, and enhancing the resilience within Smart Cities. In doing so, they should collect and manage citywide geodata and foster public participation. While the wise utilisation of the most suitable and feasible tools and technologies is a measure of smartness in a Smart City, the findings suggested four key factors with which these technologies could be assessed. These four factors included impact on society, the adoption speed by Smart Cities, the maturity of the technology, and the capabilities offered to the community.
Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) education endorses educational initiatives that advocate for reducing existing disaster risks. The COVID-19 pandemic challenged the social order around the world, including the education sector. The rise of the pandemic paved the way to significantly convert the education sector towards online/distant learning via digital platforms. Online distance learning was a challenging emergency shift for many who had to change their teaching and learning strategies. This study is an investigation of the significant challenges associated with online learning in DRR education. The objectives of the study were to consider the online learning strategies used in formal DRR education at the tertiary level and to identify the associated challenges faced by the learners. This study presents the findings of an online survey conducted as part of a research collaboration titled INCLUsive Disaster Education (INCLUDE). INCLUDE is a collaborative research project co-funded by the EU Erasmus+ program aimed to reimagine online distance learning education. The survey was conducted in the country contexts of the research partners, which include Lithuania, Japan, Sweden, and the UK, with DRR learners who are engaged in online learning. The findings suggest that Learning Management Systems, synchronous learning, and flipped classrooms are the dominant learning strategies that engage learners. The findings further suggest that challenges in online DRR education lie in inadequate ICT infrastructure and digital literacy, health-related disturbances, and professional and personal commitments that lead into learning discontinuity. Hence, the study concludes that in order to enhance the inclusivity of online DRR education, the overall social and vulnerability contexts of the learners should be considered.
Smart Cities leverage technology to address various urban challenges and creating disaster resilience is one of them. Technology is a vast and ever-evolving field, and hence the research on technology for improving disaster resilience is scattered. A major drawback of prevailing studies is that they continue to overlook the bottlenecks to effectively harness the benefits of technological innovations and that includes the need for a holistic and multidisciplinary approach. Therefore, this research intends to address that need by methodising the scattered research to provide meaningful insights towards the linkages between society and technological innovations through an urban scholar’s perspective. A comprehensive literature review was conducted to explore emerging and disruptive technologies for improving disaster resilience in Smart Cities. The review findings identified the emerging and disruptive technologies for improving disaster resilience in Smart Cities which were then classified. The findings suggested 4 key criteria to classify technologies including their impact the society, adoption speed, technology maturity and capabilities offered to the community. A Smart City which plans the technologies/ tools for disaster resilience may conduct the assessments under the aforementioned criteria, together with their context-specific feasibility assessments to make informed decisions and ultimately prioritise the most suitable for them.
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