Smart Materials Offer a Sustainable Path to the Cities of the Future

In the past century, the global urban population has quadrupled, with a shocking 4 billion people living in urbanized cities nowadays. This population will likely further increase and is expected to jump to 7 billion by 2050. With the ever-rising population in urban environments, our infrastructure needs to grow to keep up. Outside of raw materials required to construct said infrastructure, the biggest challenge is maintaining the structural integrity of buildings over a long period. Buildings inevitably degrade, and constant repairs and maintenances need to be made to keep their occupants safe. With climate change becoming a hot topic across the globe, we need to look for alternative options outside of simply using more materials to repair existing infrastructure, as that produces significant waste and is a major contributor to polluting the environment.

In the past decade or two, scientists and engineers have begun looking at alternative solutions to alleviate as much repair as possible and developed self-healing concrete and asphalt. These materials have already entered the market and are becoming more widespread in modern pavements. Self-healing materials can repair minor cracks and deformation over a moderate to a long period, akin to trees growing leaves back. This technology can reduce the materials used to repair the small crack on roads and pavements but despite this, they cannot repair and prevent major failures within the structure.

Another type of modern material that is just starting to be commercialized is materials that include graphene and other 2D compounds. Graphene concrete (concrete) has already proven to be equivalent or potentially stronger than standard concrete, whilst producing significantly fewer emissions during its production. Although still underdeveloped, other compounds offer the possibility for roads to absorb the kinetic energy of sunlight, which can be saved to defrost surfaces in cold climates and prevent damage from the cold.

Technology is evolving by the day, with nano technology being studied, there is the possibility of it being integrated into building materials to detect or even repair any defects and failures. By building better and smarter with our ever-evolving technology, we can achieve sustainable civil infrastructure that can benefit both the environment and society.

References:

Kanellopoulos, A 2021, Smart materials offer a sustainable path to the cities of the future, New Civil Engineer, accessed 9^th December 2021, <https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/smart-materials-offer-a-sustainable-path-to-the-cities-of-the-future-03-12-2021/>.