Road pavement is designed to support certain usage conditions. However, many abnormal usages above regulated level often happen. Excess traffic growth is considered as a factor influencing road life-performance. Overload phenomenon has also long been recognized as an unexpected force causing extreme decrease of road performance. This study investigates the eco-burden effect of road construction in its maintenance phase along with the influence of above factors in shortening road life-cycle. Because of that, life-cycle assessment (LCA) is used to calculate the eco-burden impact. Furthermore, there are two different options taken for pavement materials: hot-mix and recycled asphalt. They are compared in order to provide comprehensive investigation results for decision makers. Eco-Indicator 99 is used as the impact database in order to standardize calculation processes. Seven sections of Pantura (Pantai Utara – North Beach) road, Indonesia, are picked up to be the case studies as a basis in understanding correlation between all factors to eco-burden impact in road maintenance. This study concludes that each of excess traffic growth and overload is positively correlated with the increase of eco-burden impact. The more extreme shortening of road life-cycle, the more eco-burden will be produced, and it will increase faster in polynomial functions. By looking at previous studies which tend to focus on eco-burden in ideal condition of road life-cycle, this study throws new light on the effects of abnormal phenomena on road usage which shorten pavement life-performance as well as increase eco-burden impacts.
Publishing
A new journal article entitled “Design Methodology for Appropriate Technology: Engineering as if People Mattered” has been officially published in Sustainability journal, volume 5, issue 8, pages 3382-3425. Sustainability journal is a Scopus-indexed journal, and tracked for the next release of Impact Factor from Thomson Reuters. It is published by MDPI A.G., an international publisher headquartered in Switzerland. The article is published based on Open-Access scheme, meaning that it is publicly available for free download.
Appropriate technology is widely recognized as a good solution in providing alternative technology for underdeveloped people who live in a very limited circumstance. However, it is often seen as an idea without clear explanation from engineering perspective. One of critical process in appropriate technology design process is materials selection. This study aims to provide applied logic for selecting materials in the design process. The logic is constructed by surveying previous notions from researchers. Reasoning techniques are explored by using design thinking. This study reveals that there are four focuses which must be applied to find sufficient materials for an appropriate technology. This study also concludes that, unlike pure engineering efforts which tend to substitute materials given in a technology design with locally available ones, appropriate technology start from existing resources to produce its design. It requires soft selection by involving local people in exploring any potential materials which already available in their own area. By looking at previous studies which tended to ignore the contribution from local people in exploring potential materials, this study turns it back and encourages insights for further research around it.
There were evidence for the inappropriateness of just three pillars of sustainability when engineers have attempted to construct appropriate technology for underdeveloped communities. Engineers from developed countries have tended to conduct technological adaptations by treating communities as objects, rather than engaging them as subjects of development. As objects, communities could not decide what they wanted to be and were even forced into systematic development that was more likely to benefit the developed countries. However, as subjects, communities can determine their own sustainability and achieve survivability. In this study, seven pillars of survivability are outlined: technical, economic, environmental, social, cultural, judicial, and political. The first three are tangible aspects, and the last three are intangible. The social aspect is the intermediary, the bridge to emerging technological appropriateness. Tangible aspects can be measured numerically, whereas the intangible ones cannot. The tangible and intermediate aspects are what engineers must address, and both the intermediate and the intangible ones are what they must address specifically to diffuse appropriate technology into local daily routines. Tiers of technological appropriateness are also provided to understand the position of a designed appropriate technology in terms of survivability levels. A holistic approach that takes these pillars into account will empower communities to reach self-survivability beyond sustainability.
Many initiatives had been done since the emergence of each cultural heritage preservation, cultural tourism, art idealism, and Triple-Helix concept. However, there was a lack of full combination between these perspectives. This study deals with their real implementation. Exploratory study was conducted to construct complete overview of the idea. Qualitative approach was used in order to gather in-depth understanding of archival information and to develop direct observation as well as interviews with field actors. Saung Angklung Udjo, a UNESCO’s recognized institution in preserving cultural heritage (Angklung), was taken as the focus of the study. Discussion was concluded into an overview that preserving cultural heritage in tourism business could be seamlessly done through the harmony of art idealism, commercialization, being boosted and balanced by using Triple-Helix collaboration. Surrounding issues were solved through good marketing strategy, joint-cooperation, and local economic development. This study enlightened preservation of cultural heritage through Triple-Helix collaboration in a full profit-oriented tourism business which spurs local economic development and supports youth participation in heritage preservation, without losing the authenticity of art itself.
Rural communities are the major entities in developing and third-world countries. While outsiders want to develop local community, they should develop the local conditions and sustain the result. In order to get sustainability among rural communities, technology become a booster to reach it. However, the success rate of many community development projects result only compare between “before” and “after” condition of technology implementation. Furthermore, when its result reaches sustainable condition of community development, many communities cannot further maintain as well as develop their sustainable development because low level of empowerment. This paper attempts to develop conceptual framework how to reach the sustainable development in a community which is strengthened through the implementation of appropriate technology in order to reach empowerment. The framework will be constructed through literature survey and then combined with several sample cases to provide a comprehensive discussion. This paper concludes that empowerment is the next shape of sustainable development. Three stages of community development are revealed. Appropriate technology can be positioned as the bridging point in reaching empowerment of rural communities. By looking at previous efforts which treat sustainable development as the final purpose of community development projects, this paper give new lights how to reach beyond it. Empowering rural communities, sustaining their sustainable development.
