ASCE infrastructure conference in India

By the end of the last century, the world transitioned from predominantly rural to equal rural-urban living. Many estimates predict that by year 2050 two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities due to the ever-increasing rural to urban migration. Bearing the brunt of this rapid and unplanned migration are metropolitan areas in emerging economies, which are threatening the quality of life for its residents. Infrastructure in these cities, a key ingredient in quality of life, is not keeping up with the growth of population. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is organising a conference on urbanisation challenges in emerging economies, helping these societies move towards resilient sustainable cities and infrastructure. The conference will be held in New Delhi, India from 12 to 14 December, 2017.
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<p>The conference chair, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Dr Udai Singh,</span> an environmental engineering consultant in Moraga, California, USA says, ‘Civil engineers throughout the world regularly face challenges in building infrastructure in our quest for sustainable solutions to quality of life issues.'</p>
<p>ASCE, a global leader in the area of sustainable practices in civil engineering infrastructure, is organising this conference in New Delhi, a rapidly expanding metropolitan area, to facilitate policy, technical, and scientific discussions and exchanges on urbanisation challenges in emerging economies. </p>
<p>This conference of civil engineers, urban architects, policy makers, technology experts, and related professionals will provide a showcase for the latest developments and advancements in design, construction, technology, and policy related to sustainable infrastructure and offers a forum to discuss and debate future directions for emerging economies.</p>
<p>The conference will have participants from from the west as well as from emerging economies, especially from south Asia. It will feature keynote addresses by prominent government and industry leaders in infrastructure development.</p>
<p> Four concurrent tracks will enable participation in sessions covering diverse topics: <br />
(1) Planning and financing to meet the growing demand; <br />
(2) Transportation around and beneath existing cities; <br />
(3) Energy, environment, and water infrastructure needed to meet the demands of exploding population in urban areas; and <br />
(4) Resilience and sustainability of infrastructure in a changing environment for the next 100 years. <br />
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Workshops and training sessions will also be conducted to provide opportunities for continuing professional education. <br />
Two workshops are planned with experts from India and USA: <br />
(1)Natural Hazards and Risk Assessment and; <br />
(2)Urban Solid Waste Management Issues: Challenges and Options. <br />
Furthermore, two technical webinars will also be presented with remote instructors from the US and local expert facilitators from India: <br />
(1)An Introduction to Life Cycle Cost Analysis for Sustainability and Green Building Design; and <br />
(2)An Introduction to Value Engineering (VE) for Value Based Design Decision-Making. <br />
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Several prestigious organisations are collaborating with or supporting ASCE and its India Section to plan and conduct the conference. The main collaborators are the Institution of Engineers (India) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. Other supporting organisations include the Asian Civil Engineering Coordinating Council, IIT Bombay, Indian Institute of Science, and IIT Kanpur. Additional governmental and private organisations are expected to become sponsors and/or exhibitors at the conference.</p>
<p>This is a wonderful opportunity for attendees to learn from and network with government and industry leaders and sustainable infrastructure practitioners from around the world. </p>
<p> More details on the conference are available at the conference website: www.asceindiaconference.org.</p>