This means that data from city dwellers’ devices and their interaction with the physical city will determine how the government allocates resources and even influence the private sector as well. Although major developing smart cities are inspired by technology, old-school construction resources like steel are still required.

Here’s a look at where the next wave of smart cities will emerge and what opportunities lie ahead.

Countries Ripe for Smart Development

The major developing cities to watch are located in India, China and Africa. These areas of the world are ripe for growth, and what they have in common is a vast amount of land. Before modern ICT and IoT were available, it was almost impossible to imagine a way to uniformly connect these large areas into a single city. However, thanks to technology, governments will be able to bring greater numbers of people together and better manage resources for all. And development is already well underway.

India

In India, the “world’s oldest city” is being developed into a smart city. The city is called Varanasi, and it’s a holy place for the Hindu religion. However, its outdated infrastructure has created a demand for rejuvenation, and Varanasi’s renovation plans involve a lot of steel. With plans to outpace Japan as the second largest producer of steel, Varanasi will be rapidly expanding its own production capacity and turning to the global steel industry for material and technological support. Planned improvements to Varanasi include creating more affordable housing, improving the public transportation system and upgrading the sanitation system. All three of these improvements are major undertakings, and all three have roots in steel. Creating new housing structures, rail systems and modern sanitation will boost steel consumption.

SEE ALSO: Revving Up for Growth: India’s Automotive Market is In Full Gear

A model of the planned smart city in Dholera, in southern Gujarat, India. (Source: Cities Digest)

Aside from Varanasi, there were nearly 100 cities considered for smart city development in India, and approximately 20 of those have been approved by the Indian government for funding. The smart cities on India’s shortlist come from a variety of regions. This redevelopment project is part of a larger goal by the Indian government to bring the large country together. By implementing smart city technology throughout the vast country, India will be able to create a better-organized society.

China

China is rapidly developing its smart cities. With plenty of funding and technology to spare, the Chinese government has earmarked 500 cities for smart city development. While the original goal was to complete the transformation for all 500 cities by the end of 2017, more than half of the listed cities are still undergoing development.

So far, Qingdao, Hangzhou and Xiamen cities are ranked at the top for smart city governance according to the National Development and Reform Commission and the China Center for Urban Development. These cities are already equipped with wifi internet service on buses, smart register and pay services and robots that interact with citizens on a daily basis. Hangzhou, in particular, has been a sort of test tube for Alibaba’s City Brain project where they gathered massive amounts of data for artificial intelligence (AI) to process and make decisions with. The technology has drastically improved the city’s efficiency by decreasing traffic and the time it takes to respond to emergencies. As a result, City Brain will be exported to and implemented in other Chinese cities. Although not everyone is sold on the idea because the technology may put citizens’ privacy at risk, it is still expected to speed up smart city implementation all over China.

Tianjin City is one of the cities in China developing into a smart city. (Source: Bosch)

These cities will require support from the steel industry to develop and engineer high-quality, high-traffic amenities with technology at the core. Similar to Varanasi, many Chinese city projects will initially focus on housing and transportation upgrades.

SEE ALSO: Ask an Expert: 3 Managers Explain POSCO China’s Success in Challenging Chinese Market

Africa

In Africa, over 300 cities will transition into smart cities, but many development projects are facing delays getting off the ground. Much of Africa is in need of establishing standard city amenities like city government offices, schools and an open market for privately-owned businesses. Nevertheless, the region presents a tremendous opportunity for growth, and Africa’s smart cities may become some of the most efficient locations around the world.

The Modderfontein Smart City is being developed in Johannesburg by Chinese firm Zendai. (Source: Future Cape Town)

Because there is a lack of complex infrastructure, these smart cities will be built almost from scratch, allowing the people of the city to benefit from a more customized smart-city technology. Instead of working around a historical route or building, African smart cities have the flexibility to transition into smart cities optimized for the exact needs of their developing governments, education systems and business communities.

The construction of African smart cities will start from scratch. (Source: SOFREP)

This is a city planner’s dream come true. And it’s ripe for steel consumption. The steel industry can provide high-quality materials and technologies, ensuring the best construction methods and materials from the onset. Without having to re-engineer structures, African smart cities are expected to be state of the art.

While opportunities are vast in this new arena of development, many of the top steel companies have already signed contracts with developing countries to assist with smart city production. But that doesn’t mean all of the work has been assigned. With thousands of cities slated to go smart within the next five years, the steel industry will have many opportunities and play a large role in the redevelopment of these communities. Steel companies that have an eye for technology and the highest quality products will be highly sought after in the years to come.

Cover photo courtesy of IoT India Magazine.

Biggest Challenges in Bridge Construction

The major challenges for building urban bridges are the availability of skilled labor, access to urban areas and environmental compatibility.

A worker paints the Anzhaite Long-span Suspension Bridge in Jishou, Hunan, China (Source: The Daily Mail)

Building bridges in megacities with the current scarcity of skilled labor will require a massive recourse to prefabrication. In a few circumstances, prefabricated bridge units will be transported on water with tugs and barges, which will allow the use of heavy, large units. In most cases, prefabricated bridge units will be transported on the ground through congested urban roads, which will lead to the use of light, modular units.

A floating crane lifts prefabricated deck sections onto the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (Source: San Francisco Public Press)

The availability of deck assembly areas and the interference of construction operations with adjacent infrastructure are additional challenges that will govern the bridge design process. As such, incremental launching construction from aerial platforms will see new applications, especially when combined with on-site welding of field splices among modular bridge units. The welding of field splices will also allow for optimized segmentation of bridge units, diminish the cost of field splices, and will relax the fabrication tolerances of the units.

Size Determines Cost, Cost Determines Everything Else

When constructing a bridge for an urban area, the size of a bridge governs the construction process. in turn, the construction cost of a bridge determines the materials and technology. Technology includes labor and investment in special construction equipment. The quantities of structural materials for a bridge depend on the design loads of the bridge, the flexural and shear span of the bridge units, and the mechanical strength of the material.

The Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in China is the longest sea-crossing bridge in the world (Source: The New York Times)

Small and large-scale bridge projects are both necessary in megacities and demand will only increase in light of the newly emerging megacities all over the world. When looking at both the construction of new bridges and the maintenance of existing bridges, the number of small-scale projects will definitely be larger than the number of large-scale projects. The impact these construction projects will have on the mobility of people and goods within a megacity is massive.

Although one may assume large-scale bridge projects with a larger budget will allow for design optimization and the efficient use of high-grade steels, scale economies in competition with other megacities will govern the availability of construction materials and workforce. Eventually, the scarcity of structural materials will lead to the efficient, eco-friendly use of steel and concrete in large and small-scale bridge projects alike.

Prefabrication and Incremental Launching for Bridge Construction

It is true that small-scale bridge projects have smaller budgets for technology, which limit design optimization and construction mechanization and increase the labor demand. Therefore, small-scale bridges will most likely be procured as packages of multiple bridges to acquire scale economies and a more efficient use of materials with the optimized design of modular units.

On the other hand, large-scale bridge projects allow for massive investment in special construction equipment, which will facilitate the prefabrication of modular bridge units in smart, eco-friendly factories. It will also diminish the labor demand of site assembly and the need for complementary infrastructure in an urban environment, as well as enhance the quality and durability of the final product.

Thus, large-scale bridge projects will be designed for modularity and have prefabricated standardized units with asynchronous production lines. Parts of the bridge will likely have different cycle times, just-in-time delivery, and require minimal site operations. Overall, construction technology and risk management of the trans-disciplinary relationships of mechanized construction will dictate the design of large-scale bridge projects in megacities.

Workers assemble a prefabricated bridge in Pennsylvania, U.S. (Source: Roads and Bridges)

Small-scale bridge projects will take advantage of incremental launching technologies. Launched bridges minimize the interference between deck construction and the obstruction to overpass, and this is a major advantage for urban bridges designed to overpass congested infrastructure. Launched bridges do not require extra clearance to support the deck during construction, which simplifies connecting the bridge with existing roads and railways. Launched bridges do not require additional right-of-way as the deck is built behind the abutment and incrementally pushed into position. Additionally, the construction area is far from the infrastructure to overpass, which minimizes the risk for workers and the traveling public.

Incremental launching applied to a bridge deck construction process (Source: CARLOS FERNANDEZ CASADO S.L)

Materials For the Future Generation of Urban Bridges

Steel and concrete are the most common materials for bridges. In the field of steel bridges, high-grade steel will reduce the self-weight of bridge superstructures and the cost of piers and foundations. New composite systems and mechanized plate corrugation will increase the buckling capacity of unstiffened web panels and compression flanges to avoid the use of welded stiffeners.

In the field of prestressed concrete, new steels for rebar will offer higher strength and corrosion resistance to increase the durability and service life of the next generation of urban bridges. Post-tensioning materials are already extremely efficient, and the challenge will revolve around finding new duct systems and passivating materials to able to avoid the quality concerns raised by cement grouts.

Full-span precasting has been employed in thousands of spans of high-speed railway projects and in hundreds of spans of light-rail transit projects. Both steel and prestressed concrete bridges will be present in the mass transit systems of megacities, and both types of bridges are perfectly compatible with steel decks should high-grade steel turn out financially competitive over prestressed concrete in the megacity-oriented life cycle cost analysis.

Modern large-scale bridge projects are designed for 75 or 100-year service life in the USA. The use of renewable protective materials can easily meet this target in steel bridges, but the evolution of design loads and service conditions of urban bridges is hard to predict. Steel bridges offer a major advantage over prestressed-concrete bridges from this point of view, as they are more adaptable and can be modified, strengthened and adapted to new use conditions.

Don’t miss any of the exciting stories from The Steel Wire – subscribe via email today.

Saudi Vision 2030 is a mid-long term national project established by the Saudi government last April in response to the rapidly changing energy market. It plans to reform industry regulations, establish economic strategies and decrease the country’s economic dependence on oil exports.

President Chankun Han said in an Arab News article published on June 23rd, “The main purpose of corporate partnerships in many cases is the possible revenue made from the said country after the project’s completion. However, we hope to make a mutually beneficial relationship with our partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF),”

“POSCO E&C will utilize its expertise in urban development to pass on advanced construction techniques and total solutions, as well as create more job opportunities. We will also contribute to the development of the construction industry of Saudi and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) through frequent mutual interactions,” Han added. This interview was also published in Al Eqtesadia, Saudi Arabia’s influential daily newspaper.

The POSCO E&C and Saudi PIF partnership allowed for a joint establishment of PECSA last December, the venture company POSCO E&C Saudi Arabia. PECSA, owned 38% by Saudi PIF, will actively participate in urban development, housing and infrastructure construction projects in Saudi Arabia.

POSCO E&C has already been involved in Saudi Vision 2030 by being a part of 17 projects including the ones already in progress. In particular, the Ghazlan Power Plant and hotel construction projects currently under negotiation with the Saudi government are considered mega construction projects that cost $2.92 billion in total.

Be sure you never miss any of the exciting steel stories from The Steel Wire by subscribing to our blog.

Haeundae Beach, a picturesque stretch of white sand in eastern Busan, is vital to the southern coastal city in that it operates as one of the biggest tourist destinations in Korea. Each summer, millions flock to the beach to soak up the sun, feast on succulent seafood and partake in a number of festivals and watersports.

The district’s landscape has undoubtedly changed over the years, but is more vibrant and dynamic than ever before, boasting a slew of natural, historical and contemporary tourist destinations.

Haeundae’s Most Loved Landmarks

Perhaps one of Haeundae’s most cherished landmarks is Dongbaek Island, which is actually now an extension of the mainland. Shrouded in dongbaek trees and evergreens, the small, lush island is an ideal place to be in the midst of Mother Nature herself.

Nurimaru APEC House (Image source: http://bit.ly/1EWMLWi)

Situated on the tip of Dongbaek Island is the Nurimaru APEC House, which was constructed in preparation for the 17th APEC summit in 2005 and has since become representative of Busan. The building’s roof was designed to complement the curves of the island on which it sits, and it offers impressive views of the district’s coastline.

Yonggungsa Temple (Image source: http://bit.ly/1QlqUM0)

On the opposite end of Haeundae lies Haedong Yonggungsa Temple, which was first built in 1376. This Buddhist temple is not only serene, but is extremely unique in that unlike most Korean temples, which are located in the mountains, it is set on a cliff overlooking the ocean. In addition to Buddha’s Birthday, when the temple is canopied in colorful lanterns, crowds flock here on New Year’s Day to watch the first sunrise of the year.

Another favorite Haeundae hotspot is the Sea Life Busan Aquarium, which is home to about 250 species and 35,000 marine animals. Children and adults of all ages enjoy the regularly scheduled activities and shows, and visitors can even have the chance to scuba dive with sharks in the main tank.

While these are the area’s most recognized destinations, another addition to Haeundae’s sandy shore is in the works and it promises to emerge as a representative landmark, contributing greatly to the area’s tourism industry.

A New Addition to Busan’s Best Beach

On April 17, POSCO E&C (CEO Tae-Hyun Hwang) signed a construction contract for a “Haeundae tourist resort city development project” with LCT PFV, the lead developer of the project, which will include a 101-story tower and two 85-story residential buildings, at an expected total cost of 2.7 trillion won.

The Landmark Tower Residence Hotel will consist of 561 standard units and 260 luxury units, and the two residential towers will accommodate 882 households. The complex will also be a one-stop-shop for all things lifestyle, complete with facilities for leisure, recreation, shopping and business.

POSCO E&C has been selected as the contractor for this project because of its brand value, construction capabilities and straightforward financing. Furthermore, POSCO E&C has a record of completing a number of large urban development projects, such as the Northeast Asia Trade Center in Songdo International City.

CEO Tae-hyun Hwang noted, “Through this project, POSCO E&C will prove its technical skills and construction abilities by perfectly constructing the complex, a future landmark of Busan. Also, we will use this as an opportunity to contribute to the development of the domestic construction business.”

So, the next time you’re in Haeundae enjoying all the wonderful things it has to offer, be sure not to miss any of its iconic destinations and catch a glimpse of the construction project that will most certainly be the city’s next representative landmark.