ASCE/COS 73-23, entitled “Standard Practice for Sustainable Infrastructure”, was approved by the ASCE Board of Directors in October 2023. Although many hurdles remain in enabling this standard to influence the way engineering is practiced on a wide scale, the intent of the standard is to reverse ecosystem damage and climate change while continuing to improve standards of living for all people. The standard includes 29 outcomes in six major categories: Sustainability Leadership, Quality of Life, Resource Allocation, The Natural World, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, and Resilience. An additional mandate of the standard – required with some exceptions – is a Life Cycle Cost Analysis. This workshop helps all stakeholders in infrastructure planning and development better understand the new standard and contribute to the continued fine (and coarse) tuning and application of the new standard to upcoming infrastructure programs and projects. The workshop includes three sessions. In the first, experts on ASCE/COS 73-23 will present the main elements of the standard and explain why certain items were included or excluded. In the second session, participants will be divided into three breakout groups to tackle specific questions related to the standard. Finally, in the third session, participants will again convene in a plenary session to summarize the results of each breakout group. A survey will be distributed at the end of the workshop to gather participant impressions and additional ideas for the review committee’s upcoming revision to the standard.
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