News Blogs

Today is World Asset Management Day!

By Priyani de Silva-Currie posted 4 days ago
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Today is world asset management day - a date to celebrate all the amazing professionals that work within our asset management & public works field and for communities around the world. New Zealand is the first country in the world to see the sunrise off the east coast of Gisborne, so sharing this lovely asset management story with you all! https://apopo.co.nz/celebrating-world-asset-management-day/

Intergenerational Equity Considerations in New Zealand

By Priyani de Silva-Currie posted 11 days ago
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Intergenerational equity focuses on ensuring that we, as the current generation, act as caretakers for the planet, "borrowing" it from future generations with a commitment to maintaining its health and resources. Intergenerational equity is also about ensuring human wellbeing, where future populations are free and able to continue to observe cultural practices and sustain their livelihoods. Achieving intragenerational equity requires us to think about the decisions we are making today and how that may impact on future generations. The three principles of intergenerational equity are: · Options : Ensuring future generations ...

Welcome to the Future Green City World Congress!

By Chris Champion posted 07-02-2024
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WELCOME TO THE FUTURE GREEN CITY WORLD CONGRESS! From 23 until 26 September 2024, over four days, more than 3000 experts from around the world will share their passion and knowledge about the liveable green city with a future here. The Future Green City World Congress is an initiative of the Royal Association Stadswerk the Netherlands and the Royal Dutch Society for Garden Designers and Landscapers (VHG) In Utrecht, they bring together the worlds of green and civil engineering, in cooperation with World Urban Parks (WUP) and the International Federation of Municipal Engineering (IFME). The congress connects construction, greenery, infra and water. By ...

IFME Awards for Excellence - Nominations Now Open

By Chris Champion posted 02-02-2024
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Nominations are now invited from IFME member associations All IFME member associations are invited to nominate two projects for the 2024 IFME Excellence Awards. The Awards will be presented at the 21st IFME ‘Future Green City’ World Congress in Utrecht, The Netherlands, on 25 September 2024. This is a joint Congress with World Urban Parks in association with Stadswerk. The IFME Awards have been established to recognise projects that deliver outstanding community outcomes, improved service standards and positive impacts for society. Award Categories: A. Construction Project B. Development Project (non-Construction) There is a limit of one entry per ...

Top 5 Trending Technologies get the nod for 2024

By Chris Champion posted 31-01-2024
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Every year since 2018, APWA holds an annual contest to determine the Top Trending Technologies in Public Works for the upcoming year. APWA’s Technical Committees, Standing Committees, and the Council of Chapters all give input and suggestions with the top 16 technologies ultimately selected. Then the voting begins. Technologies battle it out until the ultimate victors are chosen. After two rounds and 4,590 total votes across 915 bracket entries, the winners for 2024 are: Artificial Intelligence—Condition Assessment Data Collection AI in condition assessment data collection automates and optimizes the gathering of infrastructure asset condition data. Leveraging ...

IFME Marketing and Communications 2023 Summary

By Priyani de Silva-Currie posted 14-12-2023
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Your Marketing and Communications Sub-Committee have been very industrious throughout 2023. Here's what Sanne Hieltjes, Jan Nilsson, Pieter & Rolinda Wiekeraad and Priyani de Silva-Currie have been up to with support from IFME Secretary General Chris Champion! The Marketing and Communication Committee had a number of tasks to achieve this year: A new brand development and launch Developing and delivering an IFME Thought Leadership Series Coordinating and presenting at member association conferences Preparing a marketing plan and communication strategy Publishing technical and social thought pieces from IFME member countries ...

End of Year Greetings from IFME President, Sanne Hieltjes

By Sanne Hieltjes posted 11-12-2023
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Dear IFME Members, As we are coming to a close of this year, it gives me great pleasure to reflect on our collective achievements and milestones. Our members, who come from diverse backgrounds and have a wide range of expertise, have come together to share knowledge, foster innovation, and tackle the evolving challenges municipalities face worldwide. We had two successful board meetings in Birmingham and San Diego, with many of our members travelling around the globe. The IFME’s world congress in San Diego was a great success and APWA's best-visited conference ever, if I remember correctly. Furthermore, several IFME webinars (in collaboration with ...

Extended deadline for your abstract - Future Green City

By Chris Champion posted 10-12-2023
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Take advantage of the opportunity to showcase your expertise and experience at the IFME International Federation of Municipal Engineering and World Urban Parks Future Green City World Congress in The Netherlands in September 2024! The deadline to submit your proposal may have passed, but we've extended it to January 31, 2024, due to popular demand. With solid proposals already received, take the time to develop your ideas and submit your proposal to contribute to this exciting event. Check out the website for more information, consider which program line best fits your contribution, choose the format that suits you, and submit ...

Ontario could save $1.1B a year if it adapts public infrastructure for climate change

By Chris Champion posted 24-11-2023
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Ontario could save $1.1B a year if it adapts public infrastructure for climate change Report estimates climate hazards could add $4.1B each year if governments don't adapt The dangers of a changing climate could add more than $4 billion per year to the cost of maintaining Ontario's public infrastructure over the rest of the century, the province's financial watchdog said Wednesday. But the report from the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario said the province and municipalities can cut those costs by proactively making hospitals, schools, stormwater pipes and other public infrastructure more resilient to extreme heat and rainfall. The ...

New Zealand Asset Management Guidance for Indigenous Communities - The Āpōpō Guide

By Priyani de Silva-Currie posted 01-11-2023
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Guiding the way in asset management, Āpōpō takes delight in presenting to all international communities the newly developed Āpōpō Guide. Āpōpō (Infrastructure Asset Management Professionals Incorporated) is a founding member of IFME and the leading professional association for infrastructure asset management in New Zealand. The Āpōpō Guide is designed for those practicing infrastructure asset management in Aotearoa and is a comprehensive online resource that goes beyond traditional asset management by weaving Te Reo Māori (the Māori world view) into the core of managing both built and natural environments. A first of its kind, this guide is a ...

IFME meets international colleagues in San Diego.

By Chris Champion posted 16-09-2023
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There is perhaps no greater need than now to connect the world, to learn and share our cultures and experiences. International relations are so important for a better world. Board Update. The IFME International Federation of Municipal Engineering recently had its Board meeting in San Diego in association with the APWA #PWX2023 , colleagues and friends from Finland, South Africa, Netherlands, Poland, Mexico, NZ, Italy, USA, Canada, Sweden and Australia. We were pleased to welcome Andrzej Drzewiecki from Poland as an observer to our meeting. Andrzej is exploring how Poland can become a member of IFME. APWA IFME Board Member Gary Losier ...

Back-to-basics sustainability

By Chris Champion posted 14-09-2023
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How we practitioners can fill the gaps in our infrastructure delivery systems to make our communities more sustainable by John Milne, Clark County Public Works, USA ( jmilne29@gmail.com ) The increasingly severe effects of climate change are alarming. We are fortunate to have many scientists working on exciting new technologies, such as nuclear fusion, that can potentially be game-changers in the quest for sustainability. But as engineers responsible for designing, constructing and maintaining the built environment that largely determines our future, have we done all we can to ensure our communities’ sustainability? This article ...

Revolutionising Municipal Engineering: The Role of AI in Public Works

By Chris Champion posted 09-09-2023
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Warning . This blog article was generated by ChatGPT as an experiment to explore its power. The blog produced the following when asked to "introduce the idea of using AI in municipal engineering and public works, including case studies from the UK, Australia, and around the world". ChatGPT may produce inaccurate information about people, places, or facts - but it hasn't done too bad! ... Revolutionising Municipal Engineering: The Role of AI in Public Works Authroed by ChatGPT August 3 Version (not a human!) Introduction In today's fast-paced world, the integration of technology has become a driving force behind innovation and efficiency. ...

Report from Birmingham

By Chris Champion posted 28-05-2023
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Report from Birmingham There is perhaps no greater need than now to connect the world, to learn and share our cultures and experience. The primary outcome from the 2023 IFME World Congress held in Birmingham, UK, was the interconnected stories of looking after what we have and addressing climate change issues over a range of surprisingly interlinked presentations that told a greater story. The opening presentation from the USA outlined the political and engineering relationship in managing the US's infrastructure budget of $ 1.2 trillion. It reminded the US Administration that although it wanted to deliver new ideas, it also had to address ...

The Symbiotic City

By Chris Champion posted 23-03-2023
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This is the second contribution in our series ‘On the Road to Future Green City’ in which we explore the ingredients we need for a green city with a future. This in the run-up to the Future Green City world congress, Utrecht 23-26 September 2024. The Symbiotic City The voice of nature is loudly heard. The consequences of our devastating impact on biodiversity and climate are all around us. We need a positive vision of the future, beyond the many doomsday scenarios of disappearing species, flooded coastal areas and excessive heat stress in summer. The solution to these problems lies in the Symbiotic City: nature should return to the city and be part of it ...

IFME Supports International Womens Day March 8th 2023 - Embrace Equity

By Priyani de Silva-Currie posted 03-03-2023
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IFME supports International Women’s Day (IWD) which is marked annually on March 8. IWD is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating women’s equality. IWD has occurred for well over a century, with the first IWD gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people. For IWD 2023 and beyond, each of us everywhere can #EmbraceEquity. The IWD 2023 campaign theme seeks to forge worldwide understanding about why equal opportunities aren’t enough! Equity isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have. A focus on gender equity needs to be part of every society’s DNA. ...

On the Road to Future Green City 1

By Chris Champion posted 10-02-2023
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On the Road to Future Green City Stadswerk, our Association Member from The Netherlands, are our hosts for our 21st IFME World Congress to be held in Utrecht in 2024. Dr Maarten Loeffen, Director of Stadswerk, introduces the Congress with the first of a series of articles addressing different aspects on the road to Future Green City. How often do we hear that the journey is more important than the actual destination? We take a different view on this in a new eight-part series in Stadswerk magazine. After all, we can only be “on the road” when we have an idea of the look and the layout of that city with a future. That is why we are going to explore that ...

Coordinated global action to address climate change is needed

By Chris Champion posted 21-12-2022
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In the face of extreme weather events, coordinated global action to address climate change is needed Marlene Kanga Dr Kanga is the Non-Executive Director at Standards Australia, Airservices Australia, Sydney Water, and BESydney, and is an ISC Fellow . She was President of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO), 2017-2019, with 100+ national/continental members, representing 30+ million engineers. Dr Marlene Kanga analyzes the increasingly extreme weather events in Australia, underlining the urgency to act on climate and calling for immediate coordinated global action to tackle the most crucial existential challenge of our time. ...

Expressing deep concern about the situation in Ukraine

By Chris Champion posted 15-03-2022
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IFME is an international member of WFEO - World Federation of Engineering Organizations . The Executive of IFME supports the following resolution by WFEO expressing its deep concern about the situation in #Ukraine . The Executive Board of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations approved the following resolution in San José, Costa Rica, on 6 March 2022. The World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO) with its members, representing more than 30 million engineers in some 100 countries, expresses its deep concerns about the ongoing war situation in Ukraine. WFEO, as an associate NGO to UNESCO and an NGO in consultative status ...

IFME Supports International Women's Day

By Chris Champion posted 08-03-2022
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IFME Supports International Women's Day Thank you to our IFME representative from IPWEA NZ, Priyani de Silva-Currie, for authoring this post. International Women's Day (IWD) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. At IFME we are committed supporters of empowering women to achieve success. We don't just talk about it; our team embodies this aspiration. Our IFME President Sanne Hieltjes, and World Federation of Engineering Organisations (WFEO) Women's Representative Eveline Kokx, are two examples of world leading women leading ...