Doctoral Degrees (Industrial Engineering)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Industrial Engineering) by browse.metadata.advisor "Brent, Alan Colin"

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    Transitioning existing cities’ urban infrastructure towards smart sustainable cities.
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03-01) Geldenhuys, Heinrich Jacques; Brent, Alan Colin; De Kock, Imke H.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Engineering. Dept. of Industrial Engineering.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Traditionally, the development and management of urban subsystems was seen as a basic engineering and administrative task. The infrastructural system approaches developed throughout the 20th century within the Western context are not adequate to address the current and future challenges that face cities. Smart cities and sustainable cities are urban concepts in their own right, both aimed to address these challenges. Individually both present advantages, shortcomings and discrepancies towards the other. Sustainable cities tend to focus on the resource management of a city, and the sustainability impacts within the city boundaries. Smart cities have the ability to address complex urban challenges, especially related to city infrastructure and its operation and functionality. Recent research has motivated a focus towards amalgamating sustainability and smart city design, giving rise to the smart sustainable city concept. Cities are complex adaptive and dynamic systems-of-systems with embedded social and technical interdependences, which evolved and developed over many years. It is therefore important to address urban transformation in terms of scale, and linkages across levels, systems and regions. Transformation towards smart sustainable cities requires transitioning and the modernisation of urban infrastructure systems. There is currently an absence in literature of a holistic management framework for smart sustainable city transitions. An extensive literature review is presented investigating important themes, such as the origins, characteristics, benefits, challenges, perspectives, and evaluation of smart sustainable cities. Complex systems theory is explored, whereby a complex adaptive systems perspective is identified as a meaningful way to conceptualise and understand smart sustainable cities and the associated dynamics. Existing approaches and methods regarding city and infrastructure transitioning were also reviewed to draw understanding, requirements and guidelines useful to the design of the framework. The conceptual framework is established through synthesis of knowledge and insight gathered from literature to form a unique solution for the planning, development and management of smart sustainable infrastructure transitions. A collective case study analysis is used to validate the theoretical framework, testing twenty foundational aspects of city transitions. Minor adaptations, based on the reflections made regarding the aspects, were made to successfully address any shortcomings. The framework was then also subjected to a validation process testing the appropriateness of the framework’s design using a Delphi technique and industry experts. After adapting the framework according to the feedback from experts, all of them were certain the framework would hold up in practice. The framework is intended as a generic guideline useful to municipal managers, city-planners, and project portfolio managers appointed to plan, direct and manage the transition of an existing city towards a smart sustainable city. The framework provides explicit guidelines needed to guide and manage the city transitioning process in practice, and can be adapted to align with the unique context and needs of the specific city it is applied to. The research contributes to knowledge creation at the intersection of three knowledge domains, namely: smart sustainable cities, urban infrastructure transitioning, and complex adaptive systems.