CIV1321H: Large Scale Infrastructure and Sustainability

The next 15 years will see major changes in the global infrastructure system. To meet local, national, and international sustainability goals, this next generation of infrastructure must be planned, designed, and built in new ways. Large scale infrastructure projects have impacts well beyond their stated primary purpose: they consume significant amounts of natural resources and, once built, change how we live, work and move. As key players in planning, designing, constructing, and commissioning large infrastructure projects, engineers have a special responsibility to understand the myriad ways infrastructure interacts with our natural and social systems. This course will explore what sustainability means in the context of infrastructure development, examine infrastructure needs and sustainability at the global and project scale, and provide students with skills and techniques to have an impact on infrastructure sustainability in their future work. At the end of this course, students will be able to think critically about the wider impacts of large-scale infrastructure projects and use this knowledge alongside their technical engineering skills to develop better outcomes. Students will learn approaches and skills for analysing (and influencing) the sustainability of infrastructure systems at the project and system scale.

0.50
St. George