One Among Many: STEM-work as a Basis for Citizenship

1. One Among Many: STEM-work as a Basis for Citizenship Herb Childress ▪ Boston Architectural College

2. Citizenship The condition of voluntarily taking responsibility for, and action on behalf of, a community to which you belong

3. Average atmospheric temperature rise 2-4°C • Sea levels rising 12”-30” • River systems salinated further upstream • Ocean storms more severe and more expansive • Interior deserts drier and larger Problem 1

4. How are we going to design for a billion climate refugees? Problem 1

5. Every year, the building I work in consumes: • 7,500,000,000 BTU source energy (3 rail cars of coal) • 1,100,000 gallons of water • 3,000 lbs of mail • 100,000 square feet of cardboard • 70 computers • 1,500 pizzas Problem 2

6. What are we going to do with all that waste? From ONE BUILDING? Problem 2

7. That building is obsolete. Replacing it would provide • 60+% energy savings • $8M in construction wages • BUT it would consume • 9,000 CY concrete (maybe Massachusetts, maybe Korea) • 15 miles of copper wire (mined in Chile) • 1,400 tons of rebar (from China or Russia) • mining, finishing, shipping, labor, health, human rights… Problem 3

8. How should we think about sustainable design when we don’t understand the inputs? Problem 3

9. Problem 1 – Climate Refugees Problem 2 – Waste Management Problem 3 – Inputs to Sustainable Design These are not merely complicated problems…

10. Wicked Problems Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them. ▪ Laurence Peter

11. Wicked Problems • have DEFINITIONAL CHARACTERISTICS: • Can’t be fully defined, or even described • Can be stated as symptoms of other problems • Diagnosis depends on the definition • Changes while we wait

12. Wicked Problems • have OPERATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS: • No fixed body of operations or actions • Each iteration is unique, limits knowledge carryover • Can’t be solved by subdivision into parts • No meaningful way to practice

13. Wicked Problems • have OUTCOME CHARACTERISTICS: • No right answers, though some are better • No immediate or ultimate test of solutions • No stopping rule

14. Wicked Problems • have ETHICAL CHARACTERISTICS: • Has to be solved by those who made it • Harm is done while we wait • Inaction is a choice among actions • We have no right to be wrong

15. American suburbs were built for 1950s conditions: • Cheap fuel and cheap cars • An army of stay-at-home mothers • Huge government investment in infrastructure • Huge government housing subsidies • Development policies that devoured farm and wild lands • Those conditions no longer exist. Problem 4

16. Can we intensify existing suburban forms? How do you “infill” wide roads, acres of parking, and vast (and expedient) single-story buildings? Problem 4

17. The Abandonment of Industrial America These cities have smaller and poorer populations, which means their tax bases are shot… but the same amount of roads to pave and plow, sewers and water mains to maintain, land area to protect with police and fire service. Problem 5

18. Can we physically shrink an existing city? Or evacuate it altogether? Problem 5

19. At any given moment, about 3,500,000 Americans are homeless, temporarily or permanently. • In 2011, 7,500,000 American houses and 2,000,000 commercial buildings were vacant or abandoned. Problem 6

20. Is squatting a civil right? Problem 6

21. Problem 1 – Climate Refugees Problem 2 – Waste Management Problem 3 – Inputs to Sustainable Design Problem 4 – Suburban Densification Problem 5 – Urban Depopulation Problem 6 – Homelessness and Vacancy

22. Leadership The characteristic of naming oneself as implicated and responsible for resolving a problem, even while knowing our own incapacity and unworthiness

23. Where do leaders come from? Manipulative self-interest How can I frame this problem in a way that makes it clear that I should be given power or money to solve it?

24. Where do leaders come from? Manipulative self-interest Humility and reluctance Well, nobody else is doing anything, and it’s not going to fix itself… I guess I’d better get started.

25. Where do leaders come from? Manipulative self-interest Humility and reluctance Recruitment & appointment You know who’d be GREAT to help us out with this…

26. Where do leaders come from? Manipulative self-interest Humility and reluctance Recruitment & appointment Being prepared to say “yes” when opportunity arises

27. Preparing for Serendipity? How can we prepare our students to be prepared to say “yes” to a broader array of diverse problems?

28. Start with the Curriculum

29. Start with the Curriculum …which won’t be easy

30. Boston Architectural College Bachelor of Design Studies Design Studios Design Media Technology & Systems History, Theory & Criticism Liberal Education Professional Practice

31. Boston Architectural College Bachelor of Design Studies Design Studios Design Media Technology & Systems History, Theory & Criticism Liberal Education Professional Practice

32. Boston Architectural College Bachelor of Design Studies Design Studios Design Media Technology & Systems History, Theory & Criticism Liberal Education Professional Practice • Deliberative • Judgment • Leaders • Instrumental • Expertise • Employees

33. Architecture student: I really love my architectural history courses. Do you have engineering history courses in your program? Engineering student: Why would anybody want to learn the things we know enough not to do anymore?

34. Boston University BA in Math & Computer Science Liberal Education Math Computer Science

35. University of Massachusetts BS in Chemistry Liberal Education Chemistry Math Physics

36. University of Illinois BS in Civil Engineering Liberal Education Chemistry Math Physics Engineering

37. Capital is global Design education is global Design firms are global Design materials are global Design software is global Design practices are global Buildings are not. Buildings have fixed locations. Problem 7

38. Does anything local matter? Should a building in Dubuque be different than a building in Dubai? On what basis, and by what criteria? Problem 7

39. With the advent of micro- and nano-technology and high-volume data storage, sensors and building management systems have negligible cost. We can measure: • Temperatures • Fluid and air flow rates • Fluid and air pressure • Hours of mechanical system operation • Number of door cycles • RFID and swipe-card motion trackers • Keystroke monitors Problem 8

40. If you could put a hundred thousand sensors into a building, what would you want to measure? And what would you do with that information? Problem 8

41. The average metropolitan dweller is photographed or filmed about 300 times a day: • On the street • In the park • In the store • On the job • On transportation Problem 9

42. What are the design goals for privacy? To protect it? Or to eliminate it? Problem 9

43. Problem 1 – Climate Refugees Problem 2 – Waste Management Problem 3 – Inputs to Sustainable Design Problem 4 – Suburban Densification Problem 5 – Urban Depopulation Problem 6 – Homelessness and Vacancy Problem 7 – Global and Local Problem 8 – Building Data Collection Problem 9 – Environmental Privacy

44. Curricular Resolution Lite: the Special Topics course

45. Curricular Resolution Lite: the Special Topics course Example: the Architectural Geology of Boston

46. Most of what we think of as “Boston” is actually filled rivers and bay.

47. The High Spine Highrises on the Neck’s Bedrock Geology  Urban Planning

48. The Back Bay Gravel fill in the Charles River Neighborhood created 1860-1900

49. With no accessible bedrock, the Back Bay is smaller buildings constructed on wooden friction pilings.

50. Changes in construction and stormwater runoff engineering have reduced the water table. All these pilings are at risk.