Systems Thinking and Urban Resiliency

This curriculum focuses on engineering and related scientific topics in a contextual sense. It introduces students to the concept of "Systems Thinking," which is essentially a method or habit of considering all interrelated aspects that play into a certain situation or system. For this curriculum, students will be guided through the hypothetical scenario of a strong hurricane impacting Boston. Students will examine this scenario through the eyes of a “systems thinker” by considering all the factors that contribute to the sequence of events leading up to and after the storm, as well as the factors that play into the city’s resiliency. Additionally, through examining the situation, student will be introduced to a various related topics ranging from big data and social media to resilient power grids to climate change. After the students have been guided through the given materials, there is an option for a comprehensive, in-depth final project analyzing and proposing innovative solutions to real world urban resiliency problems.