I thought it might be a good idea to start sharing some of the things I read or hear across several great news sources on infrastructure systems. We all are affected by our infrastructure systems daily. With this in mind, we are starting a series called #TWIST-This Week in Infrastructure Systems. Today, I'm sharing four items from my week's reading for our first issue.
- The Guardian asks "Is City Living Bad for Your Health?" This is a crucial question that deserves our attention, as our society is becoming increasingly urban and resource intensive. As we come together in greater geographic densities, we have the opportunity to improve our economic and environmental efficiency--but we have to make sure we don't do so at the expense of our health.
- Govtech.com shows us how we can use robots to perform sewer structural monitoring. Arlington, TX, USA recently has developed a 42-inch robot using technology created by Red Zone Robotics to revolutionize the way they conduct sewer system to scan large-diameter concrete sewer pipes--the pipes that would lead to most catastrophic failures--and evaluate data on their system.
- ASME is encouraging engineers to engage with the literature of their profession. They have a list of 3 books all engineers should read, including Petroski's "To Engineer is Human", Pirsig's "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", and Norman's "The Design of Everyday Things." These could provide some great ideas for engineers not only to engage one another across disciplines, but also to engage the general public in issues engineers face when designing systems or technologies.
- While we in DC are suffering through the long-overdue WMATA SafeTracks initiative, NYC has recently released their Mobility Report. In their own words, the NYC Mobility Report "...presents data on the primary drivers of transportation demand in New York City— population, tourism, employment—side-by-side with transportation indicators related to vehicle use and transit ridership dating back to 1910..." Their goal is to examine how they have relied on their transportation systems to achieve such vibrancy, and to determine what is necessary to keep moving forward.