University Report: Engineering Management for a Sustainable Future

This report delves into the critical aspects of engineering management in the pursuit of a sustainable future. It begins by outlining the sustainability crisis, emphasizing the impact of climate change, depletion of natural resources, and the role of greenhouse gases. The report highlights the ethical responsibilities of engineers in addressing these challenges, including environmental ethics and stakeholder engagement. It then transitions to smart and liveable cities, exploring the concept of smart cities, driven by rapid urbanization and ICT infrastructure, and discusses key dimensions such as smart governance, mobility, and economy. The report also emphasizes the importance of engineers in developing sustainable outcomes, adapting to new technologies, and working across various domains to meet future needs. The document concludes by underscoring the role of engineering in developing a sustainable future through smart cities.

Running head: ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Engineering Management for a Sustainable Future
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

1ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Table of Contents
Part 1: Sustainability Crisis.............................................................................................................2
Part 2: Smart and Liveable Cities....................................................................................................3
References........................................................................................................................................6

2ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Part 1: Sustainability Crisis
During my workshop on engineering management, I was assigned the topic on
sustainability crisis. Based on my learnings on the topic, I have been familiar with the various
kinds of changes that are made to the world based on the introduction of several new kinds of
technologies. Some of these technologies have been useful for solving of different kinds of
challenges or problems (Parajuli et al. 2015). Based on the discussion from the topic, I have thus
understood that it is the ethical and morale of engineers to decide on some important factors that
would be helpful for solving some of the critical problems.
In the recent times, it has been seen that the world is facing a serious problem based on
the declining state of operating systems of the world. This declining state of the world could be
both societal and natural (Jaffee 2014). This topic is a huge matter of concern for the world as
these kinds of problems could be a threat to humans living on this planet. During this workshop,
I have learnt the fact that different scientists have predicted that the world is nearing to lead to
human extinction. This fact has been justified as a kind of result based on the accelerating forms
of climate change (Holgersen and Malm 2015). The loss of different forms of biodiversity and
the primary loss of essential forms of ecosystem would be the main reason for humans to extinct
in the future.
During the course of my working, I have also learnt that the different kinds of natural
resources in the world are depleting at a fast rate. With the evolving technologies, it has been
seen that there has been a wide use of many of the natural resources of the world. There has been
kinds of worse changes in the world with the heavy usage of natural resources. Global warming
is one of the primary causes of such kind of use of human made technology (Trenberth et al.
2014). It has been seen by various kinds of estimations that the warming effect on planet Earth
has been a result of the increasing temperature of the planet. Due to various forms of human
activities, the concentration of Greenhouse Gases (GHGs) would be increasing. I have also
understood the point with the fact that with the impact of industrial revolution, more of the
energy is forced back into the system of the Earth. In the present times, the concentration of
GHG is around 407ppm6. Hence, the net result leads to additional form of forcing of energy that
has eventually led to a huge increase in the average form of global temperature (Delworth and

3ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Zeng 2014). Such kind of increasing temperature of Earth would thus lead to drastic kinds of
consequences for the climate, rising sea levels and the difficult form of survival on the planet.
During the course of my workshop, I have also been acquainted with several kinds of
topics based on certain days. In my first day of workshop, I have been taught about the
importance of environmental ethics for engineers. I have been also been taught about the ways in
which I should engage with different community of stakeholders in order to foster safety, health
and wellbeing of the environment and community. The learnings from the workshop have also
helped me to learn about the identification of different sustainable outcomes based on
environmental, economic and social consequences (Benn, Edwards and Williams 2014). This
workshop has been helpful as it has helped me to understand the responsibility of engineers for
understanding the adverse effects that are made to the environment.
On the second day, I had been put under some simulation exercises based on
sustainability. During these classes, I had been put under real life complex situations. This has
been useful for the achievement of better outcomes based on sustainability. During the
coursework, I had been assigned to diverse teams. During my work within this team, I had
developed different forms of simulations based on complex, expensive and time consuming
process. Based on the impact of such kind of simulations, I have been able to understand various
kinds of factors that are linked with the responsibility of engineers to understand about the
different kinds of situations that are based on sustainability crisis. With the understanding from
the workshop, I have also been able to understand about the positive role of technology for
enabling a sustainable future. With the impact of this workshop, I have also been able to envision
the future for the energy industry.
Part 2: Smart and Liveable Cities
In this workshop, the primary objectives of the workshop was primarily focused on the
impact and role of engineers for development of smart cities. In this workshop, I have been able
to understand the basic concept of ‘Smart Cities’. The concept has primarily emerged based on
the number of opportunities and challenges that have been developed due to rapid kind of
urbanization. An estimation of the increasing number of world population has led to the fact that
in the future, there would be a massive increase in the population of the world (De Jong et al.
2015). Most of the increase in population would be contributed by India, Nigeria and China.

4ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
These countries have been expected to contribute for the growth by 37 percent. With my
understanding of the workshop, I have been able to understand that the massive growth in
population would be based on infrastructure assets, quality of life and high level of transport
facilities.
The lecturer had dedicated an entire session based on the primary concept that had
supported the development of smart cities. It has been understood that the infrastructure based on
ICT technology have been the main driving factor based on urban development. Some of the key
dimensions of smart cities include – smart government, smart governance, smart mobility, smart
economy and smart people (Staffans and Horelli 2014). Different authors have also suggested
that a major kind of investment within human and social capital have led to major kind of
developments of the society. Traditional and modern communication infrastructure have fuelled
the sustainable growth and have also helped in enhancing the higher quality of life. The proper
use of invested capital would also help in developing a smart infrastructure that would be able to
support the infrastructure of the cities.
With the impact of the concept of smart cities, it has been helpful for people to realise the
benefits that are supported with the impact of smart cities. I have realised that the smart city
could also be defined as the synthesis of physical infrastructure based on the availability and
quality of knowledge within the context of social infrastructure (Neirotti et al. 2014). According
to the works of different authors, I have also concluded that the cities should adopt to master
different knowledge about the flow of energy, traffic and information based on the creation of a
smart city. With the impact of smart city, there would be an improvement of conditions of
leading life within the cities. In the recent times, there has also been a major rise in the number
of smart devices that are used by the majority of people.
Further discussion on the article have led to the discussion about the future of smart
cities. This form of discussion have been able to put light on the major improvements that would
be made on the technological part based on which the smart cities would be developed. This kind
of discussion have also helped to understand the basic characteristics that would be supported
with the development of smart cities. For the development of smart cities in the recent times,
there would be a major need for the government to take a decision on improvisation that would
be needed to be made within the development works (Taniguchi 2014). I had analysed the role of

5ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
the current government and the decisions taken by them for planning purposes. Based on certain
levels of government, it would be helpful for them to take decisions in order to develop the smart
cities.
Based on the workshop, I have been able to understand the impact of smart governance
on crafting new kinds of collaboration with the use of ICT. I have also understood that
sustainable future is a critical factor for any kind of engineering discipline based within any kind
of organisation (Albino, Berardi and Dangelico 2015). The main focus of engineers would be to
establish a culture for the development of smart cities. Engineers should be able to consider the
entire system based on a global context. They should acknowledge the needs for interacting with
other disciplines based on a relation to the development purpose. Engineers should also develop
the ability for adapting to new kinds of thinking, embracing of advocacy, and proper planning of
business, computer science and technology (Letaifa 2015). We as engineers should also be able
to work across several domains and also ensure that different cities should be developed in such
ways that would be able to meet the needs of the future. With the focus on sustainable outcomes,
engineers would be able to master their skills for developing better kinds of outcomes within
smart cities.

6ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
References
Albino, V., Berardi, U. and Dangelico, R.M., 2015. Smart cities: Definitions, dimensions,
performance, and initiatives. Journal of Urban Technology, 22(1), pp.3-21.
Benn, S., Edwards, M. and Williams, T., 2014. Organizational change for corporate
sustainability. Routledge.
De Jong, M., Joss, S., Schraven, D., Zhan, C. and Weijnen, M., 2015. Sustainable–smart–
resilient–low carbon–eco–knowledge cities; making sense of a multitude of concepts promoting
sustainable urbanization. Journal of Cleaner production, 109, pp.25-38.
Delworth, T.L. and Zeng, F., 2014. Regional rainfall decline in Australia attributed to
anthropogenic greenhouse gases and ozone levels. Nature Geoscience, 7(8), p.583.
Holgersen, S. and Malm, A., 2015. “green fix” as crisis management. or, in which world is
malmö the world's greenest city?. Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, 97(4),
pp.275-290.
Jaffee, D., 2014. Brewing justice: Fair trade coffee, sustainability, and survival. Univ of
California Press.
Letaifa, S.B., 2015. How to strategize smart cities: Revealing the SMART model. Journal of
Business Research, 68(7), pp.1414-1419.
Neirotti, P., De Marco, A., Cagliano, A.C., Mangano, G. and Scorrano, F., 2014. Current trends
in Smart City initiatives: Some stylised facts. Cities, 38, pp.25-36.
Parajuli, R., Dalgaard, T., Jørgensen, U., Adamsen, A.P.S., Knudsen, M.T., Birkved, M.,
Gylling, M. and Schjørring, J.K., 2015. Biorefining in the prevailing energy and materials crisis:
a review of sustainable pathways for biorefinery value chains and sustainability assessment
methodologies. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 43, pp.244-263.
Staffans, A. and Horelli, L., 2014. Expanded urban planning as a vehicle for understanding and
shaping smart, liveable cities. The Journal of Community Informatics, 10(3).
Taniguchi, E., 2014. Concepts of city logistics for sustainable and liveable cities. Procedia-
social and behavioral sciences, 151, pp.310-317.

7ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT FOR A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Trenberth, K.E., Dai, A., Van Der Schrier, G., Jones, P.D., Barichivich, J., Briffa, K.R. and
Sheffield, J., 2014. Global warming and changes in drought. Nature Climate Change, 4(1), p.17.