Hotspot analysis for integrated multi-infrastructure asset management

Abstract

Urban infrastructure, important for societal functioning, faces challenges from aging assets and increasing service demands. Traditional asset management practices, often conducted in silos, fail to address the interconnected nature of these systems, leading to inefficiencies and heightened system failure risks. This article combines the spatial and temporal aspects of sewer, water, and road networks to facilitate integrated interventions and enable informed decision-making among diverse stakeholders. The outcome of this research is the creation of interactive hotspot maps on a unified platform, highlighting potential areas for integrated intervention across different infrastructures. To enhance the potential for collaboration in integrated interventions, flexibility in intervention planning was incorporated. With increased flexibility in intervention decisions, the potential for collaboration also increased. For the case study, introducing a 5-year intervention flexibility increased the number of collaborative projects between sewer, water, and roads from 0 to 18. The maps can also indicate areas where the application of trenchless technologies are justifiable. Other important information on asset characteristics for the decision-makers, including age, inspection, deterioration, and other relevant spatial and temporal details can also be obtained from the maps. The presented methodology and findings provide practical solution for utilities to manage urban infrastructure networks more efficiently.