An interdependent infrastructure asset management framework for public facilities

Abstract

Infrastructure asset management (IAM) emerged in the 1970s, known then as “terotechnology”, and then received increasing attention after the catastrophic explosion in the offshore oil and gas platform “Piper Alpha” in July 1988. Infrastructure assets play an important role in underpinning the well-being, social cohesion and economic growth of a society, offering transportation, energy supply, telecommunication, health care, education, accommodation and other services to most citizens. In megacities with high population density such as Hong Kong, infrastructure asset management becomes a puzzle for many infrastructure administrative sectors. Highly complex and dense districts have numerous urban infrastructure assets - such as highways, drinking water networks, gas pipes, public housing, and telecommunication networks - making it more difficult to achieve good infrastructure asset management. More than twenty sectors share the underground space to manage their own utilities in Hong Kong, compelling the asset managers to communicate and collaborate with each other for better asset management. To improve its urban management efficiency, Hong Kong has an urgent need to develop its cross-sector IAM practices.

The aim of this research is to re-engineer an interdependent IAM framework for public facilities in order to help clarify the requirements and enable the establishment of a smart, systematic inter-network IAM system for achieving the efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, accuracy and safety of IAM in Hong Kong and other high-density megacities. This research began with a detailed literature review of infrastructure asset management and interdependency. Based on the literature review, correspondent semi-structured interviews were conducted to unveil the current practice and weakness of infrastructure asset management in Hong Kong. Three case studies of three typical infrastructure assets in Hong Kong  related to public housing, underground utilities and temporary transportation management - were undertaken to demonstrate the process flow of infrastructure management by using flow diagrams; system dynamic modelling was adopted to simulate the interactions within such IAM in causal loop diagrams to reveal the interdependencies qualitatively. A validation questionnaire survey was designed and implemented to validate the research outcomes obtained. Generic causal loop diagrams have been developed from the individual causal loop diagrams to represent the interdependencies among general cases on IAM.

In this research, a dependency matrix has been developed to illustrate the level of dependency as well as types of interdependencies, while asset hierarchy has been introduced to categorize and quantify the interdependencies of infrastructures. The dynamic interactions of different stakeholders and systems in the interdependent infrastructure network have been demonstrated in flow diagrams and further elaborated in causal loop diagrams. Feedback loops identified from causal loop diagrams assisted in analyzing the infrastructure asset management structures, performances and problems. The developed generic causal models for general cases on IAM could not only benefit the overall urban development in Hong Kong, but also shed light on other similar megacities for continuous improvement.