Abstract
Sustainability has become a high profile objective in all aspects of our lives, including the development of our infrastructures. Flexibility can enhance sustainability endeavors, yet its contribution is not clear to most. In this chapter, authors investigate the role of flexibility in sustainable port development in order to promote its incorporation in port projects. We establish that the greatest payoffs from flexibility are achieved through initiating new life cycle for a capital-intensive port infrastructure, though reuse of the elements and materials also contributes to flexibility . Reuse concurrently optimizes use of natural resources, limits waste and pollution in the environment, conserves energy, and thus limits the overall negative ecological impact. It also results in significantly lowers lifecycle costs. Thus, flexibility helps achieve (long-term) financial viability in face of economic uncertainty, while reducing environmental and social impacts. Therefore, flexibility considerations are important during design, procurement, and contracting of engineering projects. The best way to redirect the choice of decision-makers towards flexibility is to make visible its long-term benefits, and its contribution to sustainability . We discuss some evaluation methods and propose that the quantitative methods are more likely make a case for flexibility .
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
- 2.
Economisch meest voordelige inschrijving.
- 3.
References
Flint RW (2010) Symbolism of sustainability: means of operationalizing the concept, synesis. J Sci Technol Ethics Policy 1(1):T25–T37
Willard B (2002) The sustainability advantage: seven business case benefits of a triple bottom line (Conscientious Commerce). New Society Publishers, British Columbia
Greden LV (2005) Flexibility in building design: a real options approach and methodology to address risk. Phd Thesis, Massachusetts institute of Technology (MIT)
de Neufville R (2006) Valuing options by spreadsheet: parking garage case example. ASCE J Infrastruct Syst 12(2):107–111
Sullivan A, Sheffrin SM (2003) Economics: principles in action, vol 07458. Pearson Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, p 474
Hinds AA (2008) Sustainability—an imperative for the port and maritime industries, AAPA port sustainability task force. Doing well by doing good: ports and the sustainability challenge. AAPA port finance seminar, 10–12 June 2008
World Bank and IBRD (2007) Port reform toolkit: effective support for policymakers and practitioners (2nd edn). Available http://www.ppiaf.org/documents/toolkits/Portoolkit/. Accessed 1 Apr 2008
Transnet (2010) Port sustainability and environmental challenge: a South African perspective. In: The 1st eastern and southern ports environmental mangers working conference, 20–22 Sept 2010, Mombasa, Kenya
Moses J (2004) Foundational issues in engineering systems: a framing paper. Available http://esd.mit.edu/symposium/pdfs/monograph/framing.pdf. accessed on 1 Apr 2008
Dovers SR, Handmer JW (1992) Uncertainty, sustainability and change. Glob Environ Change. Available http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0959378092900448. Accessed 1 Apr 2012
Sanchez RJ, Wilmsmeier G (2005) Short sea shipping in Central America to bridge infrastructural gaps. Marit Policy Manage 32(3):227
Bettis RA, Hitt MA (1995) The new competitive landscape. Strateg Manag J 16:7–19
Dovers S (1991) Diverse and resilient approaches to sustainable development. In: Harding R (ed) Proceedings. Ecopolitics V Conference, Sydney, 4–7 Apr 1991, University of New South Wales, Sydney, pp 225–232
Scholtes S (2007) Flexibility: the secret to transforming risk into opportunities. Bus Dig 174:6
Cutcher-Gershenfield JF, Field F, Hall R, Kirchain R, Marks D, Oye K, Sussman J (2004) Sustainability as an organizing design principle for large-scale engineering systems. Paper presented at the MIT Engineering Systems Symposium, 29–31 Mar 2004. MIT, Cambridge, Mass. Available http://esd.mit.edu/symposium/monograph, Accessed 1 Apr 2008
Taneja P, Aartsen ME, Annema JA, Ligteringen H (2010) Investment appraisal for sustainable ports. In: Proceedings of 3e international conference on next generation infrastructure systems for eco-cities, 11–13 Nov 2010
Sijtsma FJ (2006) Project evaluation, sustainability and accountability: combining cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and multi-criteria analysis (MCA). PhD thesis, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, The Netherlands
van den Dobbelsteen A, Alberts K (2001) Milieueffecten van bouwmaterialen: duurzaam omgaan met grondstoffen. Available http://www.wegwijzerduurzaambouwen.be/pdf/174.pdf. Accessed 1 Apr 2009
Willcocks L (1994) Information management: the evaluation of information systems investments. Chapman & Hall, London
Milis K, Snoeck M, Haesen R (2009) Evaluation of the applicability of investment appraisal techniques for assessing the business value of IS services. Available https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/123456789/247210. Accessed 1 Apr 2009
Ros R (2011) Flexible Infrastructures for Maasvlakte 2. MSc thesis, Delft University of Technology
Taneja P, van Turnhout B, Aartsen ME (2011) Infrastructure planning under uncertainty. In: Proceedings of the 4e international conference on next generation infrastructure systems for eco-cities, 16–18 Nov 2011, Norfolk, USA
Acknowledgments
This research is carried out within the framework of Port Research Centre Rotterdam-Delft and Next Generation Infrastructures.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Taneja, P., Vellinga, T., Ros, R. (2014). Role of Flexibility in Sustainable Port Development. In: Gheorghe, A., Masera, M., Katina, P. (eds) Infranomics. Topics in Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality, vol 24. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02493-6_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02493-6_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-02492-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-02493-6
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)