McKinsey Report Addresses Infrastructure Gaps
The world today invests some $2.5 trillion a year on transportation, power, water, and telecommunications systems. Yet it’s not enough—and needs are only growing steeper. In a follow-up to its comprehensive 2013 report Infrastructure productivity: How to save $1 trillion a year, the McKinsey Global Institute finds that the world needs to invest an average of $3.3 trillion annually just to support currently expected rates of growth (exhibit). Emerging economies will account for some 60 percent of...
Reality Modeling for Everyone
Highly Accurate Context from Simple Photography Before beginning any infrastructure project, a project team needs to survey existing conditions in order to provide the foundational input to the decision-making process—to understand the context within which the asset will be designed, built, and operated. The technologies and processes available to capture and visualize real world conditions have evolved beyond levels and tape measures to technologies such as Total Stations, aerial and ground-...
Looking to Sustainable Cities as Key to Smart Future
The world is entering an age of urbanization. Every year more people relocate to cities, creating new challenges around affordable housing, transport congestion, access to jobs and environmental impacts. Even though Australia is the planet’s sixth largest country by land area, two-thirds of its population is concentrated in four prosperous metropolitan regions: Sydney, Melbourne, South-East Queensland and Perth. Australia’s population grew by 30 percent in the last 20 years. The four major re...
Hansa Luftbild Provides Addis Ababa with a Modern Land Information System
A member of the Bentley Developer Network, the Hansa Luftbild Group, Muenster, Germany, offers public- and private-sector clients expertise in the areas of geoinformation and geospatial problem-solving. The City of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, retained Hansa Luftbild to develop a modern property registration and land information system to address rapid urban expansion, slum settlement, and land and property rights. A major part of the EUR 3 million project was to develop a service-oriented architectur...
Geodesign Summit Europe Comes Into Focus
What better place to be in September than the historic city of Delft, the Netherlands? Famous for its canals and blue pottery, Delft is also a place steeped in the study of technology and engineering, as it is home to universities that specialize in those fields. One of the city's most famous residents was Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, the lens maker whose improvements to the microscope revolutionized the instrument and allowed him to be the first to observe and then describe single-celled organisms....
Cultivating Community Potential through Economic Gardening
With the global financial crisis, many local communities struggle to stay afloat. Despite the many ongoing conversations about the nation’s economy and what needs to be done to fix it. Detroit is the latest casualty of this unsustainable economic climate, holding the dubious distinction of becoming the largest city in the U.S. to file bankruptcy. There has never been a greater need for a renewed approach to economic development than today. The economic crisis that the U.S. faces today goes de...
A Mobile App Aids City Planners with Details for Cycling and Walking
It has been notoriously difficult for city officials to really learn how residents move around major cities, particularly when taking into account the routes of joggers, walkers and cyclists. They take unique paths to get to work or their homes, and many of those routes aren’t tied to paved road. Maybe they’re cutting through parking lots or running alongside the waterfront. Maybe they’re weaving in and out of bike lanes. Without knowing exactly how many people are traveling between differ...
Designing with Data: Shaping Our Future Cities
With the dawn of a ‘smart’ era the world is undergoing a transformation not seen since the industrial revolution. As more and more of us take to twitter, use the internet to influence governance or map our daily activities, policy makers and business are waking up to the fact that data generated by this virtual activity not only allows greater engagement with individuals and communities, it is also providing opportunities to shape our physical environment. As the virtual and real world increa...
The Future of Urban Planning: Interactive 3-D Visualization
In many cases, the software used by urban planners and architects is nearly as complex as urban planning itself—especially for owners and operators of the project, who may not have design backgrounds. However, unlike the old, manual method of sorting though multiple layouts and blueprints, today’s 3-D software ensures urban planners’ visions are construction-ready and complete with highly detailed data. The issue then becomes one of collaboration. With the exception of SketchUp, urban plannin...
Location-enabled Smart Planning and Community Development
The economic downturn impacted many nations around the world including the US. In particular, decreasing home values left many Americans underwater on their mortgages and many companies and organizations struggling to survive. Companies downsized or went out of business altogether, leaving many out of work. The impact was far-reaching and is still being felt across most of the nation and many other regions, such as the EU, which suffered even far more devastating consequences. As our country...
Stormwater Interview with Robert Page, P.E., Vice President, HNTB
Santa Barbara County North Branch Jail Expansion
February Issue 2026
