Reaching for well-planned heights
MALAYSIA’S population continues to increase by the year, putting a strain on the country’s housing market. As more and more people make their way to urban centres in search of better opportunities, the demand for housing keeps growing, and shows no sign of stopping.
While civil engineers take up only one part of the responsibilities in the urban planning process, their focus on sustainability and safety play a large role in ensuring the success of the plan in the long run.
Shared responsibilities
Prof Khu Soon-Thiam, head of civil engineering and deputy head of advanced engineering platform at Monash University Malaysia, describes the current relevance of town planning in civil engineering degree programmes in Malaysia.
“While most universities with civil engineering programmes recognise the importance of town planning in urban development, it is quite rare for conventional civil engineering programmes to extensively cover town planning subjects such as urban design, spatial planning systems and strategic planning.
“Such topics are generally covered in other university programmes, such as architecture and built environment degrees, or more extensively in specialised master’s degree programmes on urban planning.
“Civil engineering programmes tend to cover technically focused subjects, which will prepare engineers to work in a planning organisation, such as sustainable development, traffic systems, environmental impact assessment, construction practices and management.
“This way, civil engineers will be able to effectively communicate with architects and town planners during both the conceptual and detailed design stages of their projects. Thus, even though I think it is not essential for civil engineering programmes to include specific town planning subjects in the curriculum, some technically focused subjects mentioned above, if included, could facilitate better construction planning and management,” he explains.
Playing the right roles
As such, the role of a civil engineer is crucial to the process of urban planning and town building, as their contribution and responsibilities ensure an overall healthy working environment and the smooth running of development projects.
Assoc Prof Mohd Nasir Hussin, dean of Faculty of Engineering, Science and Technology at Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur, says civil engineers should have the ability to use the latest software and understand engineering and structural details to ensure projects run smoothly.
“The civil engineer should be capable of using relevant software and understand the software’s interpretation of data to achieve economical and safe structure design. He should also possess a large amount of practical engineering knowledge.”
Reaching new heights
What is concerning is that there is the conception that there is a glut in the job market, as Malaysia produces more and more engineers. In January, a local website published an article based on the Randstad report, titled Construction, property sector likely to see retrenchments in 2019, which points to the current downturn of the construction and property sectors as a matter of concern for civil engineers.
However, Prof Khu disagrees, saying, “There is a widespread misconception that civil engineering graduates will not be able to find jobs as the construction industry is not doing well. I would like to stress that it is normal in the construction industry to experience a seven- to 10-year cycle from peak to slow activities.
“However, since the Malaysian economy is still strong, I do not expect that we are anywhere near the low end of this cycle. The temporary suspension of various major construction projects are merely that; a temporary suspension. I expect this to be lifted within the next six to 12 months.”
Prof Nasir is enthusiastic about the advances made in civil engineering technology and the bright future of the field.
“Civil engineering, especially in the field of construction project management, will have a bright future with the application of artificial intelligence embedded in Building Information Modelling (BIM).
“BIM is a set of digital tools that can manage a construction project’s effectiveness. Building information models are files which can be extracted, exchanged or networked to support the decision-making process regarding a building or other built asset. Generally, computer tools and fundamental knowledge of civil engineering field must always come together to overcome future challenges in the construction industry.
Prof Nasir also sees a great need to embed sustainable practices in civil engineering, as the world moves towards more concerted conservation and rehabilitation efforts. He says that civil engineering graduates must consider environmental impact assessments as an important tool in the decision-making process.
Therefore, as responsible citizens of this country, it is up to civil engineers to engineer structures in a way that takes care of the environment while still ensuring a great quality of life for all.