Roads built in the mid-20th century were designed for a different world — one where most households had only one gas-powered car and the phrase "climate change" may have meant the transition from summer to fall and winter to spring.
Today, cars and other forms of transportation, the infrastructure they use and the systems that steer them are much more complex — equipped with smart features and, in many cases, electric-powered.
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Designers of transportation systems must consider a bigger and more connected system involving the evolution of technology, energy and the environment — including the ongoing consequences of global warming.
Arizona State University’s Metis Center for Infrastructure and Sustainable Engineering, one of the only centers of its kind in the country, was created to help designers of transportation and other infrastructure — including water and power delivery — better understand these complexities and create integrated systems that are more effective and resilient.
Mikhail Chester is the director of the center and a professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment. He and Braden Allenby, Lincoln Professor of Ethics and Engineering, are co-authors of the book "The Rightful Place of Science: Infrastructure in the Anthropocene," which had a second edition released this month.
We talked with Chester about the Metis Center and how it’s working to future-proof infrastructure.
Note: Answers have been lightly edited for length and/or clarity.
Question: Why was the Metis Center created?
Answer: The basic idea is that infrastructure is stuck between the past and the future. We often approach infrastructure with design principles from 50 to 70 years ago, but today’s priorities and technologies have rapidly changed. Infrastructure today is not designed to confront the complexities of today’s challenges. The Metis Center was created to close that gap by developing the knowledge and tools needed to support infrastructure to engage with that complexity.
Q: Let’s look at transportation infrastructure. What are the problems designers must reconcile in this area?
A: The transportation system in general is a manifestation of the mid-20th century when you had emerging gasoline vehicles, the novel technology of the time, and we built roads to support this technology. Cars were lighter, cars were slower — that's one part of it — but let's go way beyond that.
Cars were not electric, not connected — and transportation was much simpler in terms of the technologies. But here we are today, and transportation, like other infrastructure, is a much more wicked enterprise.
We now have semi-autonomous vehicles filled with smart technologies, connected infrastructure and several energy sources. Some cars can even power your home. So, transportation and energy systems are starting to overlap. And climate challenges add even more pressure. How big should I size a stormwater pipe given climate uncertainty?
All of these issues come together and create this complexity. Any one we could handle — it's all of them combined that’s the challenge. All of these layers of complexity are part of what we’re trying to understand and solve at the Metis Center.
Q: What are the main areas that the Metis Center focuses on when trying to understand all forms of infrastructure including power and water?
A: We focus on three big areas.
First, infrastructure demand is changing quickly — especially with new cyber technologies.
Second, climate is a huge factor. Regardless of politics, if you work in infrastructure, you cannot ignore climate. If you misjudge a stormwater pipe’s size, the road floods.
Third is cyber integration. Adding tech creates all kinds of efficiencies and capabilities, but also vulnerabilities — like hacking and cyberwarfare.
All of these things are at play, and we try to confront these issues directly and develop the tools and knowledge that engineers need to navigate infrastructure through these complex environments.
Q: Are other universities doing this, or is it unique to ASU?
A: ASU has created a unique environment for confronting complex societal challenges. We have a deep set of faculty studying engineering and related challenges. And we have a commitment to solution-driven research that directly supports communities.
Q: How urgent are the challenges of understanding and managing the complexities of today’s infrastructure?
A: Quite urgent, as infrastructure is experiencing disruptions frequently and in ways that we hadn’t seen just decades ago. Just look at the news — fires, floods, hurricanes, hacking, infrastructure failures, market disruption. … And not all problems make the headlines. Many transportation agencies are experiencing accelerated deterioration of their assets because climate conditions are now different.
It’s here. We’re living with it. The question is whether we’re going to face it head-on.
We are working with public agencies to operationalize the concepts. We've worked with cities in the Valley to create future mobility technology studies and redevelopment plans to prioritize limited resources for heat exposure and protection against monsoon flooding. We've worked with state agencies to protect assets from wildfires and landslides. We've worked with defense organizations to support electricity reliability and modernization.
We’ve positioned the Metis Center to help infrastructure agencies navigate these increasingly complex conditions and modernize their technologies and governance processes in doing so.
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