Erika Pärn has carried out studies to look into how construction methods that are more technologically

advanced could change the industry and how they carry out mapping for entire buildings, cities and road

networks. Erika is a Lecturer at Birmingham University and specialises in Architectural Technology. She

has shown through her research that technology could have a significant impact on the mapping abilities

of the construction industry.

It is thought that digital building techniques can be used in order to radically transform infrastructure

and communities. This could be the redesigning of an international tourist hotspot or the

redevelopment of slums and shanty towns. It is thought that the work in to this field that has been

carried out by Erika Pärn is groundbreaking. Her research was recently presented as part of one of the

major international infrastructure conferences which took place in Ghana. At this conference Erika gave

the keynote speech. The speech was delivered by Erika to a large audience, among them was the

Minister for Environment, Science and Technology as well as the Ashanti Minister and the Mayor of

Kumasi.

As part of her presentation of the conference in Ghana, Erika Pärn showed that using the technology

that is slowly coming on to the market can give a clearer idea of how people use land and infrastructure

in order to be cleverer with designing and create communities that are more responsive as well as

delivering a number of different cost savings when carrying out schemes that ae government funded.

Erika Pärn’s research focused on technologies that are currently being utilizes when creating modern

commercial spaces and how they can be adapted in order to design smarter cities that are built with the

proper facilities and amenities to suit the inhabitants’ needs whether they are affluent or more

deprived. Technology like Building Information Modeling are usually used individually on a project, but it

is thought that by merging them with other both new and established technologies can be used

together in order to help decide on the best locations for infrastructure development.