Industry 4 0 For The Built Environment

This book discusses how the role of traditional construction professional is changing, providing a useful guide for practitioners who would like to upskill themselves. Lately, core concepts and methodologies for the Built Environment are presented providing definitions and applications on Building Information Modelling, Computational Design, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Cloud Computing, Data Analytics and Visualization, Lean Construction, Advanced Project Management, Sustainability, Geographical Information Systems, Advanced Business Models, Disaster Management, Quality Management, Health and Safety and Legal prospective. The book also shows the latest technologies for the Built Environment including Digital Twins, Reality Capture, Extended Reality, Gamification, Computational Construction and Manufacturing, Structural Health Monitoring, Smart Transaction and Cybersecurity. Trends in soft skills for the Built Environment are presented covering Digital Working, Communication, Self and Relationship Management skills and Critical thinking. The book is dedicated to professionals who would like to enhance their understanding and capabilities to operate in the Industry 4.0 for the Built Environment having a holistic and comprehensive overview.

This is the first book to link construction management with various digital tools with a view to enhancing sustainability of construction projects. Can be adopted as a research guide, framework, and reference on sustainable construction, the concept of sustainable projects, digitalisation in the construction industry, and the fourth industrial revolution.

Modelled on the concept of Industry 4.0, the idea of Construction 4.0 is based on a confluence of trends and technologies that promise to reshape the way built environment assets are designed, constructed, and operated. With the pervasive use of Building Information Modelling (BIM), lean principles, digital technologies, and offsite construction, the industry is at the cusp of this transformation. The critical challenge is the fragmented state of teaching, research, and professional practice in the built environment sector. This handbook aims to overcome this fragmentation by describing Construction 4.0 in the context of its current state, emerging trends and technologies, and the people and process issues that surround the coming transformation. Construction 4.0 is a framework that is a confluence and convergence of the following broad themes discussed in this book: Industrial production (prefabrication, 3D printing and assembly, offsite manufacture) Cyber-physical systems (actuators, sensors, IoT, robots, cobots, drones) Digital and computing technologies (BIM, video and laser scanning, AI and cloud computing, big data and data analytics, reality capture, Blockchain, simulation, augmented reality, data standards and interoperability, and vertical and horizontal integration) The aim of this handbook is to describe the Construction 4.0 framework and consequently highlight the resultant processes and practices that allow us to plan, design, deliver, and operate built environment assets more effectively and efficiently by focusing on the physical-to-digital transformation and then digital-to-physical transformation. This book is essential reading for all built environment and AEC stakeholders who need to get to grips with the technological transformations currently shaping their industry, research, and teaching.

Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE 2023), July 20–24, 2023, San Francisco, USA

This book provides in-depth results and case studies in innovation from actual work undertaken in collaboration with industry partners in Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC). Scientific advances and innovative technologies in the sector are key to shaping the changes emerging as a result of Industry 4.0. Mainstream Building Information Management (BIM) is seen as a vehicle for addressing issues such as industry fragmentation, value-driven solutions, decision-making, client engagement, and design/process flow; however, advanced simulation, computer vision, Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, machine learning, deep learning, and linked data all provide immense opportunities for dealing with these challenges and can provide evidenced-based innovative solutions not seen before. These technologies are perceived as the “true” enablers of future practice, but only recently has the AEC sector recognised terms such as “golden key” and “golden thread” as part of BIM processes and workflows. This book builds on the success of a number of initiatives and projects by the authors, which include seminal findings from the literature, research and development, and practice-based solutions produced for industry. It presents these findings through real projects and case studies developed by the authors and reports on how these technologies made a real-world impact. The chapters and cases in the book are developed around these overarching themes: • BIM and AEC Design and Optimisation: Application of Artificial Intelligence in Design • BIM and XR as Advanced Visualisation and Simulation Tools • Design Informatics and Advancements in BIM Authoring • Green Building Assessment: Emerging Design Support Tools • Computer Vision and Image Processing for Expediting Project Management and Operations • Blockchain, Big Data, and IoT for Facilitated Project Management • BIM Strategies and Leveraged Solutions This book is a timely and relevant synthesis of a number of cogent subjects underpinning the paradigm shift needed for the AEC industry and is essential reading for all involved in the sector. It is particularly suited for use in Masters-level programs in Architecture, Engineering, and Construction.

This book collects contributions of forefront research and practices related to the use of the enabling technologies of Industry 4.0 in the architecture and design fields and their impact on the UN's Sustainable Developments goals. The book is structured into three sections (research, practice, and technologies), with the goal of creating a new framework useful for widespread awareness necessary to initiate technology transfer processes for the benefit of the public sector, universities, research centers, and innovative companies, and a new professional figure capable of controlling the entire process is essential. Thus, the book chapters arouse a series of relevant topics such as computational and parametric design, performance-based architecture, data-driven design strategies, parametric environmental design and analysis, computational and parametric structural design and analysis, AI and machine learning, BIM and interoperability, VR and AR, digital and robotic fabrication, additive manufacturing and 3D printing, R&D and entrepreneurship, circular architecture, and didactics. In the post-digital era, where the essence of design lies in the control and information of the process that holistically involves all the aspects mentioned above, rather than in formal research, it is necessary to understand technologies and analyze the advantages that they can bring in terms of environmental sustainability and product innovation.

This open access book focuses on the development of methods, interoperable and integrated ICT tools, and survey techniques for optimal management of the building process. The construction sector is facing an increasing demand for major innovations in terms of digital dematerialization and technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data, advanced manufacturing, robotics, 3D printing, blockchain technologies and artificial intelligence. The demand for simplification and transparency in information management and for the rationalization and optimization of very fragmented and splintered processes is a key driver for digitization. The book describes the contribution of the ABC Department of the Polytechnic University of Milan (Politecnico di Milano) to R&D activities regarding methods and ICT tools for the interoperable management of the different phases of the building process, including design, construction, and management. Informative case studies complement the theoretical discussion. The book will be of interest to all stakeholders in the building process - owners, designers, constructors, and faculty managers - as well as the research sector.

World-renowned economist Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, explains that we have an opportunity to shape the fourth industrial revolu­tion, which will fundamentally alter how we live and work. Schwab argues that this revolution is different in scale, scope and complexity from any that have come before. Characterized by a range of new technologies that are fusing the physical, digital and biological worlds, the developments are affecting all disciplines, economies, industries and governments, and even challenging ideas about what it means to be human. Artificial intelligence is already all around us, from supercomputers, drones and virtual assistants to 3D printing, DNA sequencing, smart thermostats, wear­able sensors and microchips smaller than a grain of sand. But this is just the beginning: nanomaterials 200 times stronger than steel and a million times thinner than a strand of hair and the first transplant of a 3D printed liver are already in development. Imagine “smart factories” in which global systems of manu­facturing are coordinated virtually, or implantable mobile phones made of biosynthetic materials. The fourth industrial revolution, says Schwab, is more significant, and its ramifications more profound, than in any prior period of human history. He outlines the key technologies driving this revolution and discusses the major impacts expected on government, business, civil society and individu­als. Schwab also offers bold ideas on how to harness these changes and shape a better future—one in which technology empowers people rather than replaces them; progress serves society rather than disrupts it; and in which innovators respect moral and ethical boundaries rather than cross them. We all have the opportunity to contribute to developing new frame­works that advance progress.