Many urban bridges and quay walls (UBQs) in historic cities in the Netherlands show significant signs of overdue maintenance and or are beyond their functional or technical lifetime. In November 2022, three Urbiquay Phase I projects started aiming to deliver tools and methods to improve condition assessment and monitoring (LiveQuay), better understand the potential of lifespan extension measures (STABILITY) and promote efficient planning of mass renovation projects (Logiquay). UBQ4 builds upon and synthesizes insights from these projects and develops new knowledge into the incorporation of changing societal values in asset management decisions.
Changing value frames, technical innovations and new insights enable and demand a transformation in UBQ asset management practices. This currently seems difficult to achieve due to: 1) a lack insight into the extent to which their current decisions are responsive and adequately balanced between the wide range of existing and future societal values at stake; 2) changing circumstances, standards and (political) preferences do not translate easily to new practices; and 3) a highly fragmented operational decision context prevents integrated decisions. To overcome these problems, UBQ4 develops and validates methods, approaches and guidelines for the implementation of societally responsive and value-based UBQ asset management practices.
The UBQ4 consortium engages in retrospective and action-oriented case study research that is linked to research activities of Phase I projects in Amsterdam, the Hague and Zwolle. Scientific impacts are achieved in three work packages that each adopt another perspective on so-called synthesis cases: 1) societal values in socio-technical systems; 2) responsive asset management organization practices; and 3) innovating asset management. The research utilizes the multidisciplinary expertise of a knowledge-chainwide consortium, three case providing municipalities, CROW platforms, AMS and other stakeholders to ensure the delivery of validated, context-specific and generalizable results for futureproof, valued-based and responsive management of UBQs.
