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6.4.1 Managing Ports and Harbours as Sustainable Complex Systems
Author(s) -
Allan Lucy,
Godfrey Patrick,
Allan Jeff
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
incose international symposium
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2334-5837
DOI - 10.1002/j.2334-5837.2008.tb00840.x
Subject(s) - sustainability , process (computing) , business , stakeholder , sustainable development , pride , risk analysis (engineering) , environmental planning , environmental resource management , environmental economics , computer science , political science , economics , public relations , ecology , environmental science , law , biology , operating system
Ports and harbours are very large infrastructure projects which have great impact on the community, environment and the economy of a country. Ports are not only a vital lifeline link between water‐side and land‐side traffic, but are also sources of national wealth, pride and concern. Stakeholders now want requirements to be described in a creative, rigorous, and policy‐relevant manner and for critical issues such as sustainable development to be incorporated into developments. This paper looks at the issue of sustainable development for ports and harbours as potentially being one of managing complexity, and it considers how holistic system requirements may be accommodated in this process. It also suggests that currently not enough use is being made of stakeholder data – economic, social, and environmental ‐ and that significant operational improvements could result from closer attention to this issue. Most of the problems related to sustainability and sustainable development are typically complex and inter‐related. It has been shown that the more complex a system the harder it is to manage, although a certain system complexity is needed for both short and long‐term functionality. By having insights into the causes of complexity in systems enables decisions to be made and actions to be taken where otherwise there may be lost opportunities and ultimately reduced profits, or damage to social and environmental networks. Ports have to achieve a harmonious balance between the local community, the environment and economic issues. By applying systems engineering techniques and ideas surrounding complexity management this paper looks at the designing and subsequent management of ports & harbours and in so doing to develop better overall strategies. Research work into a number of operational sub‐processes is used to gain insights into where measures of complexity may be further developed.