Hemanta Doloi

There is ongoing debate about the value of infrastructure systems—energy, water, transport, waste, and communications—and how infrastructure investments should be prioritized to account for social, economic, and environmental wellbeing. The concept of an infrastructure system is inherently linked to interdependencies. Although infrastructure systems differ across countries and cities, they are all closely connected to transport, as movement involves both cost and utility. These systems ultimately exist to serve individuals, who assign value to them. To explore the full spectrum of value creation, which underpins business models, the relationship between individuals and transport infrastructure must be understood. This research tests the hypothesis that integrating economic, environmental, and social value dimensions within a unified business model provides a more comprehensive representation of infrastructure interdependencies than conventional economically focused approaches. Economic value was analyzed using principal component analysis of input–output tables, social value through structured interviews and statistical analysis, and environmental value using secondary data linked to economic demand in the infrastructure context of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The proposed business model integrates social, economic, and environmental values, giving policymakers a clearer understanding of infrastructure system interactions and supporting more informed investment decisions that maximize societal value.

As the global population reached 8.1 billion in 2024, there is a pressing need to meet growing housing and infrastructure demands through innovative and sustainable practices that preserve natural resources. With 40 per cent of the world's population residing in rural areas, mostly in developing countries, there is an opportunity to target rural development as a means of countering unsustainable urban growth. The construction industry in these regions plays a crucial role in finding net-zero, sustainable solutions. The Smart Villages research programme at the University of Melbourne promotes a shared urban–rural development model, addressing the limitations of traditional development methods and contributing to climate change mitigation efforts. The initiative emphasises bottom-up development, incorporating indigenous knowledge, local skills and demographic data to ensure context-specific, community-aligned progress. Central to this approach are the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and focus is put on scalable development and regional integration for economic and social growth in the rural communities.

Attitudes towards transport modes influence delivery of the twin imperatives of moving towards lower carbon dioxide transport while improving people’s health and well-being. This study provides a macro-level assessment of social value across eight transport modes in the UK, forming the social component of a broader research agenda examining transport’s economic and environmental dimensions. A nationally distributed questionnaire (n = 300) collected pre-pandemic data on ten key attributes, including travel time, cost, comfort, safety, environmental impact and health benefits. Utilising statistical analysis, the relationship between overall and individual evaluations was investigated, revealing significant positive correlations. The results confirmed the relevance of the aforementioned factors in decision making. Younger participants provided more positive evaluations than older participants, suggesting that older individuals may feel underserved by transport options. Transport evaluations were independent of gender or ethnicity. Car ownership correlated with higher appreciation of car travel and lower appreciation of taxis, but did not affect evaluations of public transport or active modes. Qualitative responses clarified the reasons behind transport mode choices, identifying time and comfort as the primary influences. By offering a consistent, pre-Covid-19 baseline, the study enables comparison with macro-level economic and environmental analyses and supports more integrated transport policy design.

Though relatively new, the concept of smart villages empowers rural communities by providing essential amenities that support a self-sustaining lifestyle, reducing the need for migration to urban areas. As climate change intensifies, maintaining the current urban-to-rural population ratio of 60:40 is crucial in mitigating global warming and ensuring planetary sustainability ( United Nations (UN), 2017 , World Population and Housing Census Program ). The increasing adoption and use of the internet play a pivotal role in socio-economic development, particularly in rural areas where connectivity has the potential to transform lives. Enhanced digital access can empower communities, foster economic growth and curb urban migration. However, despite its recognised importance, rural regions struggle with inadequate internet access and usage. This study examines internet adaptation and usage patterns in rural areas, focusing on Assam, a state in north-eastern India where the digital divide hampers progress in education, healthcare and economic activities. Data were collected from 2,058 households across 12 villages, analysing mobile phone ownership, internet service quality and usage trends. The findings reveal that while approximately 75% of the surveyed population has mobile phone services, only 19% report internet access, and a mere 9% consider the internet quality satisfactory. Among those with connectivity, the primary uses include social networking (90%), education (85%) and entertainment (85%), followed by work-related activities (60%) and online shopping (40%). Despite the potential benefits of digital inclusion, infrastructure deficiencies, affordability constraints and limited digital literacy remain significant barriers to widespread internet adoption. The study further highlights that, for many rural residents, improved internet access is not yet a top priority compared to pressing needs such as clean water and sanitation. However, the research underscores the transformative potential of internet connectivity in fostering smart village development. By providing valuable insights into the relationship between digital adaptation and sustainable rural development, this study offers a framework for addressing connectivity challenges in similar global contexts.

Despite its proven benefits, Building Information Modeling (BIM) has witnessed limited adoption in developing countries. In response, recently, there has been a significant increase in research works investigating BIM in developing countries. These studies have investigated various aspects of BIM adoption and implementation, including barriers/challenges, drivers/enablers, benefits, implementation strategies, BIM awareness, and adoption rates, among others. However, there has been an absence of studies that have attempted to explore the potential application of various BIM functions across the construction lifecycle of public sector construction projects in the context of a developing country, such as Tanzania. Accordingly, the present study seeks to bridge this gap by employing a qualitative approach. Specifically, semi-structured interviews with 34 BIM knowledgeable experts with extensive knowledge of the delivery of public sector construction projects in Tanzania were conducted. Thematic analysis was then employed to report key findings. The findings revealed that BIM had various potential applications across the lifecycle of the public sector construction projects. It is anticipated that findings of the present study will provide valuable insights into the potential areas where BIM can practically benefit public sector construction projects in Tanzania taking into account its distinctive contextual issues. It is further hoped that the findings will generate interest for the wider adoption of BIM in developing countries. This would facilitate in the sustainable delivery of public sector construction projects which constitute the backbone of developing economies and hence promote the 9th goal of SDG.

With 8.1 billion people on the planet, currently about 60% live in urban centers and 40% live in rural settings. However, due to a clear disparity in living standards and also perhaps the availability of resources generally, as predicted by the United Nations, the urban population is increasing to reach 68% by 2050. This increasing trend of urbanisation is further escalated due to the traditional way of perceiving the urban-rural divide and worldwide efforts towards closing the gap. Demand for housing and infrastructure resulting from the rapid urbanization not only adds to the current carbon footprints but also hinders necessary innovations for sustainable development. Countering the current practices of traditional development models and rapid urbanisations for closing the urban-rural gap, the smart villages research program at the University of Melbourne offers an evidence-based alternative by promoting urban-rural share and context-specific development. Rather than extending the traditional brick & mortar-based development practices in the urbanization spree, value-based and purpose-built development of smart villages provides a significant new opportunity for innovative development and upgrading of the 40% rural community globally. While the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) are at the core of the smart villages development, this paper highlights how the data-driven context-specific planning and execution of the SDGs support rural communities to take control of their localised development and steer towards establishing resilient societies with clear distinctions in the rural lifestyle. Setting a clear point of departure, this paper demonstrates with conviction the unique roles and responsibilities of the urban-rural communities in shaping the sustainable built environment and contributing to the global war against climate change and global temperature rise.

Purpose: Large-scale public sector construction projects in Tanzania face numerous interrelated issues. However, past studies have ignored the contextual environment in which these issues emerge and their intra- and inter-phase interactions. Accordingly, the present study seeks to bridge this gap by addressing three objectives, including identifying and analyzing the various contextual issues, investigating their interrelation and discussing potential management strategies.Design/methodology/approach: A two-staged exploratory sequential mixed-method approach was adopted, employing semi-structured interviews followed by questionnaire survey. 45 experts participated in the interviews, while 41 experts participated in the survey. For the qualitative analysis, inductive thematic analysis was adopted to identify key issues and their interrelations. For the quantitative analysis, the issues were ranked using relative importance index (RII). Finally, the findings of the quantitative and qualitative analyses were triangulated to distill the findings into a set of recommendations in the form of a management strategy framework.Findings: For both the inception and planning and design phase, the findings revealed that the most important issues were client-related issues that impacted time and finances. For the procurement phase, key issue was concerning the lowest bidder policy. For the execution phase, delayed payments and consequently financial issues were the primary issues. Finally, for the handover phase, late payment along with additional requirements raised by consultants were major issues. In summary, the present study demonstrated that issues emerging at early phases had far-reaching implications on the performance of the projects.Research limitations/implications: The main limitation of the present study is the sample size of respondents for the questionnaire survey. However, this limitation was offset by the extensive interviews conducted in the field.Practical implications: It is envisioned that the findings of the present study will sensitize public sector construction stakeholders and policymakers to the contemporary issues experienced at various lifecycle phases of the projects.Originality/value: The present study identified issues not previously mentioned in the literature and developed a construction lifecycle management strategy framework for addressing the contextual issues.

This chapter discusses the risks and vulnerabilities of introducing new technology and building necessary resilience in the rural community. Managing risk, vulnerability, and resilience is the other side of the coin of addressing sustainable infrastructure. The literature discusses practices that can be/are incorporated to make the infrastructure resilient to potential failure in the system due to minor hitches in the process or natural disasters.

This chapter reintroduces infrastructure for smart villages by connecting this book and its contents to its predecessor “Planning, Housing and Infra-structure for Smart Villages”. It briefly discusses the types of infrastructure (hard, soft, physical, social, economic, environmental) and introduces the topics that are being discussed in the following chapters. A clear articulation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is drawn to the discussion in each chapter.