Technology & Engineering

Smart mobility includes automation, shared mobility services and other new forms of mobility made possible by digital technologies. This book argues that smart mobility will only be developed in a desired direction and fulfil global sustainability goals if it is steered in that direction. There is a vast body of literature on public policy and policy instruments, and there are many different conceptualisations and categorisations. Applying an open and broad approach, whereby a variety of policy instruments that are used to govern smart mobility are introduced and discussed, this book is ideal for both professionals and researchers. The book is organised into three parts: the first part explores why there is a need for policy instruments in relation to smart mobility, the second part examines how policy instruments are chosen and developed, and the third part explores what policy instruments are doing and what smart mobility is doing to them. Of the policy instruments used today, many focus on producing knowledge for governments and thereby making smart mobility governable. Because of the difficulties with implementing policy instruments that make the transport sector more sustainable, the book concludes by discussing in which ways citizen deliberation can breathe new life into the debate.

The growing ubiquity of drones means that they are more readily available for both terrorists and civilians to use. At the same time, the military use of drones has globalised. Yet regulations for their international use, both military and domestic, are sparse and lacking in clarity, and most books on the legality of drones tend to be written by journalists or activists.  

In September 2018, the 73rd General Assembly of the United Nations acknowledged that international instability is increasing and that improving global security is among the most important tasks facing the world today. The Assembly concluded that it is extremely important to develop new, effective frameworks and technologies to understand and confront increasingly complex networks of actors, interests, and contexts. 

Water is life. Managing water quantity and quality is a big part of human responsibility. Water Management and Sustainability in Asia covers topics related to water resources management, including multi- and interdisciplinary research on flood, soil infiltration, contaminants, sediment, water quality, hydrological modelling, and water resources systems.

Visual pollution is an emerging, multi-dimensional, subjective, and under studied area of manmade environments that has recently received researchers' focus. Visual Pollution: Concepts, Practices and Management Framework offers the first substantial cutting-edge exploration of visual pollution in urban settlements, uncovering the conceptualisation, geography-specific visual pollutants, methods of visual pollution assessment and management frameworks.

Nawaz and Wakil dive into the contrasting prevalence of visual pollution geographically and the connection of human behaviour with urban aesthetics, urban management, measurement tools, information systems and regulatory frameworks. This novel contribution fills the international knowledge gap to generate dynamic and practical solutions for the mitigation in regulatory and enforcement frames.

Providing a holistic picture to a diverse multi-dimensional readership interested to explore the phenomena of visual pollution, Visual Pollution: Concepts, Practices and Management Framework is an essential read for those working and researching in the fields of urban design, property management, planning, building, and policymakers confronted with a rapidly urbanising planet.

Seven of the seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) are directly related to sustainable infrastructure development. The majority of sectors, including the road infrastructure sector, are under intense pressure to find financially feasible, socially acceptable, and environmentally conscientious project outcomes or techniques that will result in sustainable road infrastructure development (SRID).

Sustainable Road Infrastructure Project Implementation in Developing Countries presents a model for implementing sustainable road infrastructure projects in developing countries. Providing readers with comprehensive theoretical and practical directions on implementing sustainable road infrastructure projects in developing countries successfully, the authors discuss the factors which influence the implementation of sustainable road infrastructure projects, including the drivers, barriers, benefits, and determinants of sustainable road project implementation.

The model offers road infrastructure stakeholders with a precise and functional tool that promotes collaboration, common language and comprehension, engagement and interaction among all individuals and institutions involved in SRIP implementation. It is beneficial to both professionals and scholars, in the area of architecture; building technology; civil engineering; sustainable/green construction and other disciplines in the built industry.

Born half a century ago, predating the internet and named WAVE in its infantry, the Spatial Grasp Model has been tested on numerous applications: graph and network theory, collective robotics, crisis management, security and defense, social systems, and space-based systems. The Spatial Grasp Model confirms the potential applicability of the developed paradigm, language, and technology for solving much broader classes of problems, especially those related to large and unknown worlds.

Presenting the main ideas of the Spatial Grasp paradigm and details of its key Spatial Grasp Language (SGL) – including its philosophy, methodology, syntax, semantics, and interpretation in distributed systems – Sapaty explores extended technological applications of the approach. Allowing us to evaluate large, distributed phenomena by their physical or virtual coverage, The Spatial Grasp Model suggests uses beyond the theoretical, including the examination of hurricanes and forest fires. Investigating group behaviour of ocean animals, discovery of unknown terrain features, and path-findings in large transport networks truly demonstrates the real-world application of SGL.

Applicable for high-level formulation of key problems and their solutions in the place of natural languages, The Spatial Grasp Model is crucial reading for researchers across multiple fields faced with developing global.

The most productive way to engage society as a whole with issues of sustainability is to involve them in the development and execution of the solutions. Pragmatic Engineering and Lifestyle draws together international experts from engineering and architecture to disclose the latest insights into forging viable means to sustain tomorrow’s needs.

Focusing on breaking through the remaining barriers and fully realizing promising remedies by explicitly examining the social aspect of engineering and urban design, the authors present state of the art research on, among other topics, simple and responsible engineering and living, ecological and socially friendly buildings and infrastructures, socially resilient farming, and agroecology.

Pragmatic Engineering and Lifestyle is an indispensable collection for tomorrow's engineers, architects, and policy makers.

Achieving Net Zero is a wicked problem that is not just a question of applying technological innovation to existing transport patterns and behaviours. It involves all three aspects of the environmental, social and economic sustainability triangle and any attempt to significantly reduce transport’s CO₂ emissions will involve major technological and behavioural changes – indeed, a fundamental rethink of existing expectations. Any approach needs also to be politically achievable, promoting opportunities for improving quality of life while not evading the issues at hand.

This 20^th volume in the Transport and Sustainability series focuses on Net Zero transport, providing a go-to source of information for policymakers, businesses, scholars and students alike. The contributors discuss the nature and scale of the issues associated with moving towards net zero transport, along with the opportunities for positive and transformational change. The chapters in Towards Transport Net Zero address the topic from a range of different perspectives including different transport modes, policy areas, social and demographic considerations and economic sectors.

The Transport and Sustainability series addresses the important nexus between transport and sustainability, containing volumes dealing with a wide range of issues relating to transport, its impact in economic, social and environmental spheres and its interaction with other policy sectors.

ICE Core Concepts: Soil Mechanics is a concise, practical guide to the key concepts and latest developments in the field of soil mechanics. It explores the physical properties of soils and the behaviour of soil masses subjected to loads, as well as soil phases, classification and characteristics, stresses and fluid flow, consolidation, compressibility and compaction, shear strength, lateral earth pressure, slope stability and bearing capacity. These core principles can be applied to soil-like materials, such as coal ashes and mine tailings, and are explored using real-life scenarios and worked examples. Key features include real-life case studies and worked examples, easily digestible topic summaries, over 100 explanatory diagrams, and suggestions for further reading.

Revised and updated, this new edition features

• a new chapter covering a range of special topics, including expansive soil, thermal and electrical properties of soil, reinforced soil and soil liquefaction
• updates to existing chapters include sustainability considerations, some advanced topics, and recent developments in soil mechanics
• updated and additional multiple-choice questions, and numerical/conceptual problems.

ICE Core Concepts: Soil Mechanics provides broad coverage of soil mechanics in a concise and accessible format, and is ideal for students, practising engineers and other related professionals who require a concise introduction to this subject. Together, ICE Core Concepts: Soil Mechanics and ICE Core Concepts: Geotechnical Engineering provide a comprehensive introduction to geotechnical engineering.