On invitation by the Italian tunneling society, ITACUS co-chair Antonia Cornaro presented the contributions of underground space developments to the United Nations sustainable development goals at the SIG - Società Italiana Gallerie conference, held in Bologna from 20-21 October 2022. The event took place as part of SAIE, Italy‘s version of the Bauma.

A range of interesting contributions included new methods and technologies to reduce the construction  industry’s carbon footprint and methods of how to reduce carbon emissions in the design and construction process of a tunnel infrastructure. Many more contributed with their latest research and findings which will be shared by SIG - Società Italiana Gallerie. As pointed out in ITACUS’ presentation we must look at three levels when appraising underground projects in terms of their sustainability: the macro, the meso and the micro level.

Currently our industry is too much focused on the micro level which is important but focused on the present. We need to think more about multi-functional, multi-use underground infrastructure that can be adapted to other uses in the future.

Please reach out if you would like to find out more.