About us | Sustainability ⊕rientated Cyber Research Unit (SCUBE)

The success and long-term sustainability of African society, cities, infrastructure and buildings, is a function of modernising and optimising the African Built Environment Sector by integrating the 4.0IR innovative technologies to all components of the built environment sector through sustainable development to maximise the value captured within the sector for all stakeholders.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4.0IR) is expected to profoundly impact the built environment's future. There is clear evidence that the urban infrastructure of African countries are struggling to meet the population growth challenges with traditional and conventional methods and technologies. The Built Environment Sector stands accused of focusing too much on the technical and economic aspects of sustainability, than the social and environmental components, all of which are essential to meet the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.

The 4.0IR is set to influence the way in which we interact with space, develop infrastructure and buildings, and invest in the sector, i.e. affecting different segments of the built environment value chain in creative and innovative ways. Through the use of cyber technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), Big Data, Internet of Things (IoT), digital models, shadows and twins, robotics, 3D printing, mixed reality, blockchain, crypto investment, building information modelling, etc. The Built Environment can invest in, create and maintain smart, sustainable, interactive and resilient cities, infrastructure and buildings.

Already the 5.0IR beckons – where 4.0IR is deployed in sustainable, resilient and human-centric ways – and given the wholesale impact of the built environment on society, it is the revolution to adopt to improve sustainability and efficiency of the built environment projects’ development process and the efficiency of the entire sector, and how communities and enterprises interact with the built environment sector in Africa or other emerging countries. This includes building the global governance structures and policy mechanisms to address the unintended environmental and social consequences of change and unlocking and scaling 4.0IR innovations that maximise progress towards sustainable development – including innovations that respond to the new risks and challenges presented by exponential, life-altering nature of 4.0IR itself.

The Sustainability ⊕riented Cyber research Unit for the Built Environment (S⊕CUBE) is committed to:

developing a rapidly responsive research agenda allows us to understand the sustainable impact that the 4.0IR will have on the various components of the African built environment and society.
contribute to the current research being carried out in industrialised countries and customise it for emerging African countries, creating bespoke research that is grounded and relevant to the African context.
Promoting the integration of 4.0IT innovative technologies throughout the built environment sector through sustainable development principles and maximise the value for all built environment stakeholders

The Unit is located in the Department of Construction Economics and Management, which offers Internationally benchmarked qualifications in Real Estate/Property, Quantity Surveying, Construction Management and Project Management.

As UCT is the top Research University in Afrika, and guided by UCTʼs purpose to unleash human potential to create a fair and just society, S⊕CUBE wholeheartedly aligns itself with UCTʼs 2030 vision and aims to contribute to the universityʼs research portfolio by focussing on unleashing knowledge in and from Afrika to redefine and co-create a sustainable global future.

Click here (/media/137355) to download the UCT Vision 2030 document.