Integration of Cyber Physical Systems and Data Science into the Built Environment Lifecycle

Within the global economy, the built environment makes a major contribution to economic activity and has a significant impact on sustainability. In addition, the built environment plays a significant social role as it influences where we live along with how we work, entertain, and learn. Even though the built environment plays such a significant social and economic role, it has been slow in adopting emerging technologies to make the way we design, build, utilize, and decommission more efficient while having less of a negative impact on the environment. This paper explores how we can integrate data science and Cyber Physical Systems into the built environment to achieve greater efficiencies. This paper introduces some of the industry challenges along with an overview of emerging technologies. In addition, the paper includes qualitative interview data that is driving the development of a working model that integrates emerging technologies to achieve budget, schedule, and sustainability efficiencies. Finally, the paper discusses how it is envisaged that integrating these technologies will improve decision-making within the built environment lifecycle.