L’analisi dei costi nel ciclo di vita in supporto alla gestione di un’infrastruttura

The life cycle costing analysis is a tool to be used within the entire life cycle, that can lead to an effective decision making. At European level there are differences in the use and application of this methodology. Europe has invested to reach a greater awareness and dissemination of the evaluation of the costs not only at the time of the initial investment, but above all in view of the overall life cycle. This result is even more interesting if you take into account the economic weight of environmental design choices. Airport design shows evolutionary nature, which belongs to every infrastructure. The terminal inevitably includes the needs of growth and continuous evolution that characterizes the entire infrastructure which it belongs to. This is marked by a layout that can vary according to these needs behind the project as it has to accommodate the major functional subsystems needed to process the passengers. These require an increase in capacity beside passengers increase over the years; with this comes the need to adjust paths, plants and architecture. The alternation of the cycles of service of a terminal is also determined by other factors, although the main one is growth in passengers flows. To ensure project development consistency with the whole vision of the life cycle of the terminal, the choice between different options of the project is currently based on evaluations of functionality and capacity. A more structured approach towards decision-making, based on economic and environmental input quantities can help manage the design choices in a more conscious and decisive way in the long run. There are interesting examples of application of the LCC methodology to infrastructures, precisely due to their evolving nature. The examples refer specifically to roads and rails. In the US there are samples of airports’ asset management with a view to the life cycle.