Incorporating System Complexity in Sustainability Assessment for Civil Infrastructure Systems: An Innovative Approach

Abstract

Sustainable development (SD) is a concept with multi-dimensional aspects. Through a pattern of resource use, SD aims to enhance both economic and social growth, while minimizing negative environmental impacts. Vital contributors to SD are the civil infrastructure systems (CIS) which have a huge impact on the spatial and temporal dimensions. Examining the performance sustainability of CIS requires an interdisciplinary approach involving social, environmental, economic, and engineering sciences. This hard and complex process necessitates a proper assessment of the diverse conditions under which the CIS operates. Nevertheless, to date, many attempts have been made to develop sustainability performance assessment frameworks for CIS. All of these frameworks have failed to consider two key facts underpinning the SD concept, namely the interaction between sustainability aspects; and the temporal inter-relation between different life cycle phases for CIS. This paper introduces a novel approach utilizing fuzzy cognitive mapping to model the interaction among sustainability indicators in the context of CIS. The proposed approach considers system complexity through modelling dynamic interaction among sustainability indicators, and the dynamics interaction between the CIS itself and its neighbourhood. Also, it considers the temporal inter-relationship between the different life cycle phases for the CIS, by adopting life cycle-based sustainability indicators.