SYSTEMS ENGINEERING SAMPLER Selected examples of systems engineering in theory and in practice
WEBINAR: How Can a Systems Approach Help Critical Civil Infrastructure Become Smarter, More Sustainable and Resilient? On April 28th, 2021, the Systems Engineering Research Center (SERC) hosted a webinar that highlighted the necessity of systems thinking to address the challenges faced by modern cities in providing sustainable and resilient infrastructure, as part of their SERC TALKS series. Michael Salvato, Vice President, Infrastructure Advisory Practices at Mott MacDonald, emphasized the need for cities to reimagine the infrastructure services that they provide and to design deeply interconnected technological, social, and environmental systems to do so. Salvato promoted the movement toward a set of capabilities known as “Infrastructure 4.0”, comprising not just physical assets and digital twins but also an interconnected web of social, institutional, and ecological systems. Such emerging sociotechnological systems will require a synthesis across traditional disciplines of engineering, information technology, environmental science, and policy.
“A smart, sustainable city is an innovative city that uses Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness… while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental as well as cultural aspects.” “Smart infrastructure is a cyber-physical system that responds intelligently to changes in its environment, with the ability to influence and direct its own delivery, use, maintenance and support.” Salvato proposed a multi-layered enterprise architecture for Smart Infrastructure 4.0 that could be used to align physical assets, technology, information, and business models to achieve a common purpose, sustainable development:
Some quotes highlight Salvato’s themes: “The challenges and opportunities of the Anthropocene (Human age) are complex, systemic and interdependent.” “One of the ways to look at the world is as a series of systems within systems within systems.” “Sustainability and resilience are emergent properties of a complex and dynamic sociotechnical system that includes both hard and soft infrastructure in a symbiotic relationship with its environment.” 38
Download the presentation here. View the recording here.
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PPI SyEN
