Sustainability and Resilience of Engineering Assets

Engineered assets are key to the delivery of essential services such as transport, food, water, electricity supply, health and safety, etc. Some of these physical assets are integrated into asset systems and national or regional networks with life cycles extending several decades or even centuries. It is, therefore, of great importance that the strategies and life cycle decisions such as those related to short- and long-term capital investment planning, maintenance strategies, operational plans, and asset disposal lead to the maximization of the value that can be derived from these assets. Moreover, it is essential that the achievement of these goals is sustained in time. Organizations dealing with engineering assets, both public and private, must, therefore, integrate sustainability and resilience concerns into everyday operations, alongside budgets that are often restricted and all the while having to satisfy demanding performance requirements under risky and uncertain environments. This Special Issue gathered a selection of papers reporting the latest research and case studies discussing the trends and emerging strategies addressing these challenges, with contributions regarding how asset management principles and techniques can help push the boundaries of sophistication and innovation to improve the life cycle management of engineered assets toward more sustainable and resilient cities and societies.