With this conference, it was hoped that participants, delegates, and experts would be able to discuss various aspects of civil, marine, and environmental engineering practices in society. In addition, SIBE 2022 was expected to offer a chance for researchers, students, and leaders to share the latest developments in the implementation of infrastructure to reinforce the essence of resilience in the environment henceforward.

The opening of the event began on Tuesday (8/3/2022) at 08:00 Western Indonesian Time with a speech from Indah Rachmatiah Siti Salami, M.Sc., Ph.D., the chairman of the organizing committee. Through the collaboration between the Water and Wastewater Engineering Research Group and the International Water Association, SIBE has always been the place to discuss science and technology for scientists and academics.

“Even though the event is conducted online due to the pandemic, I believe this event will provide a forum for discussion and evaluation of new ideas and perspectives in order to create infrastructure and built environment,” she said.

The opening was then continued by the Dean of FTSL ITB, Ir. Edwan Kardena, Ph.D. “The theme raised in this year is very important, and in this conference, we will discuss every study aspect of civil, marine, and environmental practices encompassing a wide range of topics from disaster-resistant infrastructure to wastewater engineering and management process”, he explained.

According to Edwan, the steep increase in the global population has caused countries whose economic and industrial activities are still focused on big cities to experience urbanization. Indonesia is one example of those countries, and efforts to tackle problems arising from rapid population growth have to be started with a development in sustainable, resilient, and environmentally friendly infrastructure. Edwan hoped that, by attending this event, participants will gain various knowledge and experience to be implemented in Indonesia.

The Rector of Institut Teknologi Bandung, Prof. Reini Wirahadikusumah, Ph.D., also took part in welcoming SIBE 2022 participants. As a member of FTSL, she said that current infrastructural problems, which are caused by urbanization, industrialization, and climate change, can pose threats to human survivability.

The ongoing pandemic has even aggravated these complicated conditions, and Indonesia is caught in a crisis never seen before. As a result, she stated that infrastructure has to achieve high sustainability and resilience in order to ensure the survival and prosperity of the community.

“As engineers, we recognize our role in tackling these problems. However, to solve the problems, we also have to collaborate and face them with a holistic and interdisciplinary approach”.

SIBE 2022, in partnership with Hokkaido University and National Taiwan University, invited several individuals to explain their respective topics in order to share knowledge and experience. These individuals include Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, M.P.A. (Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia), Dr. Ir. M. Basuki Hadimuljono, M.Sc (Minister of Public Works and Housing), Prof. Satoshi Okabe from Hokkaido University, Dr. Fouad Bendimerad (Executive Director of Earthquake Megacity Initiative), Prof. Louis Ge from National Taiwan University, Prof. Michael Templeton from Imperial College London, Abdul Malik Sadat Idris, S.T., M.Eng (Director of Water Resources and Irrigation from Ministry of Planning/Bappenas), and Prof. Tadashi Yamada from Kyoto University.

Reporter: Ruth Nathania (Environmental Engineering, 2019)
Translator: Ariq Ramadhan Teruna (Facultry of Industrial Technology, 2021)