skip to content

MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development

global challenges, engineering solutions
 

Guidelines for best practices in sustainable engineering projects in Colombia

Wolfgang Salas Restrepo

Guidelines for best practices in sustainable engineering projects in Colombia

“This work is about a dream, a dream of making of infrastructure projects a catalyst for peace, integration and sustainable development in Colombia”

Adequate and efficient infrastructure is essential for economic competitiveness and social development. Nevertheless, ‘adequate’ and ‘efficient’ infrastructure embodies different perceptions according to the context in which the infrastructure is provided. Contexts range from industrialised to developing countries, from rural to urban areas, from availability to scarcity of natural resources, et cetera. The current Colombian context offers opportunities for introducing sustainable development thinking and action into infrastructure projects. This document unveils such opportunities and proposes a general mechanism for practical application of sustainable development criteria in Colombian infrastructure projects. This aims to provide a starting point for the transition to sustainability, towards a long lasting journey through the sustainable development pathway.

Course Overview

Context

The need to engage in better problem definition through careful dialogue with all stakeholder groups and a proper recognition of context.

Perspectives

An ability to work with specialists from other disciplines and professional groups acknowledging that technical innovation and business skills also must be understood, nurtured and combined as precursors to the successful implementation of sustainable solutions.

Change

An understanding of mechanisms for managing change in organisations so future engineers are equipped to play a leadership role.

Tools

An awareness of a range of assessment frameworks, sustainability metrics and methodologies such as Life Cycle Analysis, Systems Dynamics, Multi-Criteria Decision making and Impact Assessment.