Prospective Directions in the Computer Systems Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) Shaping Data Exchange for Cities Sustainability and Resilience.

Sustainability and resilience in addressing environmental, social, and economic challenges within construction rely on interoperability. In architecture, engineering, and facilities management, a model-centered approach using standardized information structures like industry foundation classes (IFC) is essential for data sharing. Achieving complete interoperability across domains requires further research, especially in modularizing IFC, normalizing tree structures, and ensuring language independence. This chapter focuses on IFC schema, highlighting upcoming developments like IFC 5 and “IFC x,” with a core emphasis on modularization to enhance domain interoperability. Improved links between building information modeling (BIM) and geographic information systems (GIS), along with Internet of Things (IoT) integration into BIM, are also discussed. The three functions of model view definitions (MVDs) play a crucial role in defining subsets of IFC, imposing limitations, and establishing software implementation levels. Anticipated refinements in IFC 5 will coordinate these functions into distinct projects, establishing a shared interoperability layer within the schema. Modularization in IFC 5 is expected to streamline module creation, enhance upkeep, ensure consistent implementations, predict release cycles, and reduce the time gap between release and tool availability.