i
INTELLIGENT
Rapid growth is taking its toll on Africa’s infrastructure. A design overhaul
and an intelligent one at that is what’s needed if this country is going to keep
shaping world-class local cities. Autodesk explains why intelligent design and
visualisation software is key to sustainability and growth.
T
he 2010 FIFA World Cup
was a major catalyst for
South Africa’s infrastructure
design and development.
However, benchmarked
against the state-of-theart stadiums built for the
2010 FIFA World Cup, it’s
starkly evident that a lot
of the country’s existing
infrastructure has been in place for a
long time, with some buildings having
reached the end of their design life.
Intelligent design is becoming more
and more central to a city’s ability to
accommodate rapid growth in a way that
minimises negative impact on its residents
and the environment. The design of a city’s
infrastructure supports its transportation,
water, electricity and telecommunications
systems, providing the basic framework for
the economic development of a country.
In South Africa, between the early 1970s
and 2002, a decrease in infrastructural
70
africandesignmagazine.com
investment led to some of the infrastructure
being designed to only handle certain
volumes or speeds relevant to the time.
Exceeding these projected volumes and
speeds in recent years has led to even faster
deterioration.
Putting further strain on our outdated
infrastructure is the trend of urbanisation.
It is estimated that over 50% of the
world’s population now live in cities and
that the current 3.5 billion city-dwellers
will increase to 5 billion by 2030. The
consequence of such rapid growth is that
the housing and infrastructural needs for
half of the world’s inhabitants have not yet
been built. To provide the roads, utilities,
services and overall infrastructure to
sustain this increase requires engineering
not seen in recent history. Civil engineers
will play a crucial role in the development
of this infrastructure, driving innovative
new design as well as rehabilitating and
improving the failing infrastructure already
in place.