The method and index of sustainability assessment of infrastructure projects based on system dynamics in China
Abstract: As one of the most
important overhead capital of urban economics and social development, the
sustainable development of urban infrastructure is becoming a key issue of
prosperous society growing. The purpose of this paper is to establish a basic
model to analysis certain infrastructure project’s sustainable construction and
operation.
Design/methodology/approach: System dynamics is an effective stimulation
method and tool to deal with such complex, dynamics, nonlinear systems, which
could be used in analyzing and evaluating all aspects of infrastructure
sustainability internally and externally. In this paper, the system is divided
into four subsystems and 12 main impact indicators.
Through setting the boundary and other basic hypothesis, this paper
designs the basic causal loop diagrams and stock & flow diagrams to
describe the relationship between variables and establish a quantifiable
structure for the system.
Findings: Adopting a sewerage treatment in China as a case to test our
model, we could conclude that the model of internal sustainable subsystem is
reasonable. However, this model is a basic model, and it need to be specific
designed for the certain project due to the diversity of infrastructure types
and the unique conditions of each projects.
Originality/value: System Dynamics (SD) is widely used in the study of
sustainable development and has plentiful research achievements from macro
perspective but few studies in the microcosmic project systems. This paper
focuses on the unique characteristics of urban infrastructure in China and
selects infrastructure project which is based on micro-system discussion. The
model we designed has certain practical significance in policy setting,
operation monitoring and adjustment of the urban projects with high rationality
and accuracy.
Keywords: Infrastructure
Projects, Simulation, Sustainable Development Analysis, Dynamic Model,Causal
Loop Diagram,Stock and Flow
Author: Jun Zhou, Yingjia Liu
Journal Code: jptindustrigg150086
