New trends and requirements in bridge and structural engineering

Traffic infrastructure and buildings represent the biggest investments in the modern society, and life expectancy is expected to be several hundreds of years. At the same time traffic and housing needs increase and mode of use changes faster than ever - a trend that is expected to increase. Also the societal requirements for safety increase and to complicate matters the technologies and ma- terials available are increasing and new technologies appear at short intervals. Further, the future developments are expected by society to meet rapidly increasing sustainability requirements and limitation on use of resources, all with minimal climatic footprint.

These trends will change the role of the structural engineer and the way he/she adresses this much more complicated and demanding environment in close cooperation with specialists in other do- maines.

The lecture will address these subjects and hopefully create a basis for debates and meaningful discussions with innovative solutions in our various structural engineering fora including IABSE.