Course Syllabus

Course Description

The course uses problem-based case study learning to teach students how to plan, design, finance, and construct transformative infrastructure systems—those that meet traditional performance measures while also having positive effects on communities and the environment. Students will explore the complex decision-making behind these projects, including how to engage public and private stakeholders, creatively leverage multiple funding streams, frame risk and uncertainty based on stakeholder interests, and collaborate across disciplinary and perceptual boundaries. The projects discussed in the course address the technical, financial, social, political, behavioral, and other challenges students will face in their professional careers. The course is cross listed in engineering and planning, and students are expected to work collaboratively across disciplines.

Rationale for the Course

The development and redevelopment of urban infrastructure systems such as stormwater management and transportation tend to reflect a preference for incremental change over the radical transformation and innovation needed to meet the needs of current and future generations. Professionals (i.e. planners, engineers, contractors, policy makers, and developers) who are responsible for these systems cannot rely solely on traditional practices or modes of decision-making. This course will expose students via problem-based case study to path-breaking projects that met or exceeded both traditional performance and triple bottom line metrics. Students will investigate the complex decision-making behind these projects—from the management of risk and uncertainty to the strategy for community engagement—and practice developing through individual and collaborative work their own transformative and innovative solutions.

Learning outcomes

The overarching learning outcome for the course is for students to anticipate, confront and overcome hurdles to building better urban infrastructure systems.

Having successfully completed the course, students will be able to:

• Synthesize best practices across diverse case studies and apply these to solve challenges in other project scenarios;

• Compare and contrast traditional development and redevelopment practices with those used in transformative infrastructure projects;

• Recognize how planning, design, and construction decisions shape “downstream” user decisions, and future project decisions with lasting impact on the environment and society

• Articulate the roles, responsibilities, interests, and perspectives of the diverse stakeholders involved in transformative infrastructure projects;

• Communicate persuasively across disciplines and to the public about technical project constraints and goals;

• Practice innovative methods through technology and industry best practices for including the public as a collaborative stakeholder

Course Structure and Requirements

The pace of the course requires full and active participation. Students will be assigned a combination of readings, videos, and audio recordings to critically engage with before each lecture. Each week will include (a) short lectures on the week’s topic(s) to introduce students to key concepts, theories and empirical findings, (b) problem-based, case study learning through reviewing actual infrastructure project documents, (c) class discussion(s) to critically and interactively evaluate the material, and (c) small-group work.

How you will be evaluated

Applications (40%)

• Assignments with your team for the semester that will build toward the team project submission, covering the five major core areas of the course (infrastructure crisis, performance measures, organizational structure, behavioral and cognitive barriers, stakeholder interests)

Mid-term Interview and Reflections (25%)

• Interview with a key figure in transdisciplinary infrastructure systems

Short Assignments and Discussions (15%)

• Primarily in-class individual and group short exercises

Final Project (20%)