Experiencing Urban Engineered Systems Matthew Eckelman Northeastern University, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering Keywords: experiential learning, infrastructure, design Northeastern University

Why? Every aspect of our cities is engineered Most of us take this engineering for granted, until it fails! We all should appreciate how urban infrastructure is designed and operated The primary learning objective is to connect personal experiences of cities with engineering and design principles

When? Several individual modules have been implemented in in existing courses: Full course proposed for Fall 2016 Air Quality Monitoring Station Spring 2015 Urban Steam Plant Spring 2015 Deer Island WWTP Fall 2014

Where? This proposed course was inspired by one focused on manufacturing firms, called Greening the Industrial Facility The city is our classroom, engineers our guides: Targeted at non- engineers interested how cities work: Arch, Planning, Policy, EnvSci, Hist, Business, Public Health

What? Syllabus is structured around weekly infrastructure units in energy, transit, food, water, materials Each has 1) terminology 2) design 3) experience Students naturally have questions based on their own experiences; background technical sessions enable more sophisticated discussion planned textbook Urban systems are interconnected; small design projects for multiple systems show synergies/constraints

Prognosis? Scale up / Dissemination Plan: – could be delivered in any city; requires contacts at relevant agencies and facilities – also for engineers! civil and environmental engineering systems are too big to prototype; need to experience – long-term idea: bring to public through radio, TV, web Seeking FOEE advice: effective field assignments CEE co-op student experiencing Boston’s water infrastructure Fits with Northeastern’s emphasis on experiential learning & co-op