As Italian, my first thought at the beginning of this editorial is addressed to the memory of the 43 persons that lost their life in the collapse of the Morandi Bridge in Genova.
For Italy, this tragedy represents just the peak of the iceberg, since the national bridge stock has experienced more than 10 cases of collapsed bridges in the last 10 years (almost entirely involving simply supported pre-stressed concrete short span structures), with an unbearable number of casualties, after the last major cuts of investments for the maintenance of infrastructures applied since 2007 by the Government.
For the International Engineering Community, and far from the emotional side and the mourn of this huge catastrophy, once again, Genova represents the failure of one of the symbols of “extreme design” and the marker element of a misleading model of development.
IABSE, in recent times, has been wondering and will certainly continue to investigate the role that Structural Engineering can play in addressing and governing the need for a more “resilient” and “protected” built environment within all the measures of structural sustainability. Today, though, we've had the awareness to be fully entitled, as highly qualified Professionals, to represent the hub in the process of promoting any kind of advancement and real progress in this ambit.
All of us, as IABSE Members, are feeling this responsibility at all levels, no doubts, and we're ready to take it.
This is clearly demonstrated by the titles of many recent IABSE Events, where the issue of sustainability within the world of structural engineering has been put in the very foreground.
In a close future, “Towards a Resilient Built Environment” and “The Evolving Metropolis”, the next Guimaraes and New York IABSE Events in 2019, with their common thread linking so tightly our professional and academic experience to a general concept of Sustainability, are confirming once again how the Association is putting this specific issue at the top of the list.
Similarly can be said about the creation of Commission 6 on “Sustainability” within the newly updated IABSE Strategy: A clear message of commitment.
But a more sustainable future has to take into account also the need to disseminate the knowledge of civil engineering around the world, to create better and improved life conditions in the most disadvantaged areas of the planet. The IABSE Foundation (www.iabsefoundation.org) has recently struggled to provide tangible results to this sense of responsibility towards a more sustainable and improved built environment. The newly built Namawukulw footbridge in Uganda, part of a joint project carried out with Bridges to Prosperity, where half of the construction cost has been covered by the IABSE Foundation and where the construction process has been successfully carried out with the work on-site of a team of volunteers from IABSE affiliated consulting engineering companies, represents a milestone both in the Foundation and the Association commitment and achievements.
Sharing the knowledge of civil and structural engineering to improve the Society and the future of present and next generations is, therefore, and without any doubts, a major goal within IABSE's mission. This can make all of us proud to be part of this Association which is able to gather under just one common flag the highest competences and the most vibrant energies in the realm of structures.
Tobia Zordan
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Tobia Zordan
Tobia Zordan Chair, IABSE Foundation; Chair, IABSE Task Group 6.4 - Value protection of built environment; Chair, CEN TC-340; President, BOLINA Ingegneria Ltd.