The changing face of infrastructure management

Infrastructure management refers to the ongoing body of knowledge associated with the management of economic infrastructure such as power, water, sewerage, gas, communications and transportation systems, and social infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, etc. The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into the way infrastructure management is changing as a result of the increasing complexity caused by technical, economic, managerial, environmental, political, and social factors. Due to this complexity, traditional engineering management approaches for infrastructure systems are no longer effective in meeting the needs of the stakeholders, including the public at large. This paper proposes that the new direction for infrastructure management should be driven by the body of knowledge associated with development of systems and the management of existing systems (i.e., Systems Engineering/Asset Management). It begins by examining the issues that are important when developing any new engineering management system. It introduces the concept of systems thinking and suggests how a holistic vision can provide an insight into the significant relationships that need to be considered when developing management approaches for infrastructure. It discusses evolving engineering management approaches and how they relate to the changing environment. The paper concludes by suggesting that the adoption of a holistic approach to infrastructure management is the key to managing the increasingly complex interrelationships and will overcome many of the deficiencies in the traditional approaches. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Syst Eng 2: 226–236, 1999