Integrating sustainable development into structural design teaching

This paper describes a suite of exercises that have been devised to help civil and structural engineering students develop a deeper understanding of the relevance of sustainable development to structural design. The exercises are based on a new tool called System for Appraising the Sustainability of Structures, which was designed to appraise the sustainability of bridge structures. Specifically, the exercises compare the sustainability of three alternative bridge designs for a motorway crossing, highlighting relevant performance indicators including climate change, resource use, noise, dust, vibration, aesthetics, cost of construction, cost of maintenance and traffic delay costs, together with methods for their evaluation both individually and in combination. The exercises primarily show that the choice of construction material and structural form can have a significant effect on the economy, society and environment and demonstrate the interconnectedness of the three themes.