Author: Francesco Robotti – 02/08/2026
Building Infrastructure Better: Digitalisation, Decarbonisation and Decentralisation
Edited by Innocent Musonda, Rehema J. Monko, and Adetayo Onososen. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press/Taylor & Francis, 2026. xxiii + 677 pp. ISBN: 978-1-041-08302-3.
Building Infrastructure Better: Digitalisation, Decarbonisation and Decentralisation resumes the proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Development and Investment in Infrastructure (DII 2025), held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Bringing together seventy-two peer-reviewed contributions from researchers and practitioners across Africa and beyond, the volume addresses one of the most pressing questions confronting contemporary infrastructure development: how can rapidly growing urban societies reconcile technological innovation, environmental sustainability, and inclusive economic growth? The editors have assembled an ambitious collection that seeks not merely to document current research but also to advance an intellectual agenda centered on three interconnected pillars—digitalisation, decarbonisation, and decentralisation—as the foundations of resilient infrastructure systems.
The book is edited by three professional figures who are experienced in the investigated domain. Professor Innocent Musonda, Director of the Centre for Applied Research and Innovation in the Built Environment (CARINBE) at the University of Johannesburg, has established an international reputation in Building Information Modelling (BIM), digital twins, artificial intelligence applications in construction safety, and infrastructure resilience. Dr Rehema J. Monko, Senior Lecturer in Building Economics at Ardhi University, Tanzania, contributes substantial expertise in procurement systems, project performance, sustainable infrastructure, and quantity surveying, ensuring that East African perspectives receive appropriate prominence. The third editor, Dr Adetayo Onososen, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at CARINBE, brings specialized knowledge in digital transformation, robotics, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and digital construction technologies. Together, the editors represent complementary strengths spanning construction management, digital innovation, sustainability, and infrastructure policy, providing a coherent intellectual framework for the proceedings.
One of the volume’s greatest strengths lies in its breadth. Organized into ten thematic sections, the book explores topics ranging from smart cities and infrastructure investment to climate resilience, gender equity, renewable energy, BIM, circular economy practices, and construction materials. Rather than restricting itself to conventional engineering concerns, the collection recognizes infrastructure as a multidisciplinary enterprise shaped by technological, environmental, economic, institutional, and social factors. This broad conceptualization reflects the increasingly complex nature of infrastructure development in the Global South, where technical challenges are deeply intertwined with governance, inequality, and rapid urbanization. The emphasis on African scholarship is particularly noteworthy. Although infrastructure literature has historically been dominated by studies originating from Europe, North America, and East Asia, this volume demonstrates the maturity and diversity of research emerging from African institutions. Case studies span South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Lesotho, and Zambia, among others, illustrating both shared regional challenges and important national differences. This geographical diversity constitutes one of the proceedings’ principal contributions, moving beyond generalized narratives of “developing countries” to provide context-sensitive analyses grounded in local realities.
Equally commendable is the book’s strong commitment to digital transformation. BIM, artificial intelligence, digital twins, virtual and augmented reality, Internet of Things technologies, and automation recur throughout the volume not as isolated innovations but as components of broader strategies for improving infrastructure planning, construction management, maintenance, and resilience. Rather than presenting digitalisation as a technological end, many contributors critically examine the institutional, financial, and human barriers that continue to limit technology adoption across African construction sectors. This balanced treatment distinguishes the volume from more technologically deterministic publications that often overlook governance capacity, skills shortages, and socio-economic constraints. The proceedings also make a significant contribution to contemporary debates on sustainability. Decarbonisation is approached through multiple lenses, including renewable energy integration, green buildings, circular economy principles, waste management, sustainable mobility, and climate adaptation. Importantly, sustainability is not framed solely as an environmental imperative but also as an issue of economic viability and social justice. Several chapters explicitly connect environmental objectives with questions of affordable housing, equitable urban development, and community resilience, reflecting a more holistic understanding of sustainable infrastructure than is commonly found in technical conference proceedings. Another notable feature is the integration of social dimensions into infrastructure research. Dedicated sections on gender equity, leadership, psychosocial risks, and spatial justice broaden the analytical scope beyond engineering and economics. The inclusion of studies examining women’s leadership in construction, housing justice, and inclusive urban planning reflects growing recognition that infrastructure development is ultimately about improving human well-being rather than merely constructing physical assets. Such contributions enrich the proceedings by demonstrating how technological innovation must be accompanied by institutional and social transformation if sustainable development goals are to be achieved.
The editorial organization deserves praise. Despite the inherent diversity of conference proceedings, the thematic structure provides readers with a logical progression across related topics. The introductory materials—including the foreword, peer-review documentation, editor biographies, and conference background—offer welcome transparency regarding the scholarly standards underpinning the publication. The detailed explanation of the three-stage double-blind review process strengthens confidence in the academic quality of the selected papers and distinguishes the volume from many conference proceedings where editorial processes remain opaque.
Nevertheless, the book is not without limitations. Like many conference proceedings, it inevitably displays unevenness in methodological sophistication and analytical depth. While several chapters present theoretically informed empirical investigations supported by robust methodologies, others remain primarily descriptive or exploratory. Systematic literature reviews appear frequently throughout the collection, occasionally at the expense of original empirical research. Although such reviews are valuable for synthesizing emerging knowledge, the overall balance might have benefited from a larger proportion of longitudinal case studies, comparative analyses, or policy evaluations capable of generating stronger theoretical contributions. A second limitation concerns coherence across chapters. Although digitalisation, decarbonisation, and decentralisation serve as overarching themes, the connections among these concepts are not always explicitly developed. Some contributions engage directly with all three pillars, whereas others focus narrowly on a single issue with only limited reference to the broader conceptual framework. A more substantial editorial introduction summarizing the major findings across thematic sections—and a concluding chapter reflecting on future research directions—would have enhanced the intellectual integration of the volume. Such synthesis could also have highlighted recurring patterns emerging across countries, facilitating comparative learning among researchers and practitioners. Similarly, while the geographical emphasis on Sub-Saharan Africa constitutes one of the book’s defining strengths, comparative engagement with experiences from other regions of the Global South remains relatively limited. Greater dialogue with infrastructure research from Latin America, South Asia, or Southeast Asia could have further enriched discussions of digital transformation and sustainable urbanization, enabling readers to distinguish challenges that are uniquely African from those shared across developing contexts. The proceedings also reveal an understandable bias towards technological solutions. Although numerous authors acknowledge governance weaknesses, financing constraints, institutional fragmentation, and political challenges, these issues often receive less sustained analysis than digital innovations themselves. Infrastructure transformation ultimately depends as much upon regulatory reform, administrative capacity, procurement practices, and political leadership as upon technological advancement. Future editions of the conference proceedings could therefore benefit from stronger integration of public administration, political economy, and institutional governance perspectives alongside engineering and construction management research. From a practical perspective, however, the volume succeeds admirably. Policymakers will find valuable evidence concerning digital infrastructure, procurement reform, climate resilience, and urban planning. Industry practitioners benefit from discussions of BIM implementation, quality management, cost control, renewable energy integration, and construction innovation. Researchers are presented with an extensive overview of current African scholarship, while postgraduate students gain exposure to a wide range of methodological approaches and emerging research agendas. The diversity of contributors—from universities, professional bodies, and industry organizations—further enhances the practical relevance of the collection. Perhaps the book’s most significant achievement lies in demonstrating that infrastructure development can no longer be understood through disciplinary silos. Throughout the volume, engineering, economics, digital technologies, environmental sustainability, governance, and social inclusion emerge as deeply interconnected dimensions of infrastructure systems. The proceedings therefore reflect a welcome shift from traditional construction-centered thinking towards a broader conception of infrastructure as an integrated socio-technical system requiring interdisciplinary collaboration.
In conclusion, Building Infrastructure Better: Digitalisation, Decarbonisation and Decentralisation constitutes an important contribution to contemporary infrastructure scholarship, particularly within the African context. Although the collection exhibits some unevenness, its strengths substantially outweigh its limitations. The breadth of topics, rigorous peer-review process, high-quality editorial leadership, and sustained focus on Africa’s rapidly evolving infrastructure landscape make this volume a valuable resource for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers alike. More importantly, it demonstrates that Africa is not merely a site for applying externally developed infrastructure models but an increasingly significant source of innovative research capable of informing global debates on digital transformation, sustainable development, and resilient infrastructure systems.