It is difficult to adapt large infrastructure systems to changing circumstances. These systems are often increasingly complex and represent enormous costs that have been made for their installment. This makes radical changes in these systems unlikely, although such changes may be necessary to meet the demands of modern society. The challenge therefore lies in smart infrastructure design.
Tineke Egyedi and her colleagues focus their research on the use of compatibility standards: widely supported technical agreements, for instance on the size of transport containers. “Using standards may seem paradoxical,” Egyedi points out. “Intuitively, standards fix the parameters of technology development. However, research has shown that standards can indeed contribute to system flexibility.”
Most containers used in international cargo transport are either 20 or 40 foot long. These standard lengths facilitate the transport, handling and storage of containers by companies in different countries, as well as by different transport modalities: by sea, road and railroad. “This is a nice example,” says Egyedi, “of how a standard, which in effect fixes one element of the transport chain, can increase the flexibility of the entire process.”
It is not as simple as it seems. These standards have to correspond with the various demands in different countries with regard to, for instance, road size and safety regulations. In addition, different actors – policy makers, operators, end users – may have varying interests. “We need to map and understand all these factors in order to assess whether the compromise standards that are developed will satisfy all parties,” she underlines. “This is a so-called gateway approach: standardized gateways interconnect different domains of interest. This approach is valuable not only for designing new infrastructures, but also for meeting new demands while prolonging the life span of existing infrastructures.”
Egyedi and her colleagues are studying various other cases in which standards may facilitate infrastructure transition, for instance to make the transition from gas to hydrogen, and from bar code to RFID (radio frequency identification). She is convinced that standards will prove to be a useful angle for transition policy. “The interface between standards and flexibility is endlessly fascinating. And, in my opinion, highly promising."
