The Earth as an Engineering System: Addressing Sustainability through Science, Technology and Policy
We combine insights from the two emerging fields of engineering systems and sustainability science to develop an analytical approach for understanding and managing coupled natural and human systems. The Earth system is characterized with reference to the attributes of engineering systems (real-world...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division
2016
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/102921 |
| _version_ | 1811081407777210368 |
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| author | Selin, Noelle Eckley Friedman, Carey L. |
| author_facet | Selin, Noelle Eckley Friedman, Carey L. |
| author_sort | Selin, Noelle Eckley |
| collection | MIT |
| description | We combine insights from the two emerging fields of engineering systems and sustainability science to develop an analytical approach for understanding and managing coupled natural and human systems. The Earth system is characterized with reference to the attributes of engineering systems (real-world existence, artificiality, dynamic properties, hybrid state, and some human control). We argue that human influences have become so overwhelming that it is impossible to understand global Earth systems without taking into account both technical and social dimensions. Aspects of sustainability systems that fulfill functional types of engineering systems are enumerated with reference to five processes (transporting, transforming, storing, exchanging and controlling) and operands (living organisms, matter, information, energy and money). Building on methods from sustainability science, we introduce the concept of Spatial-Temporal-Functional (STF) analysis for addressing sustainability problems in an engineering systems context. We illustrate this framework with reference to the case of global transport of hazardous chemicals. Our analysis suggests that efforts to address cross-scale problems should focus on enhancing mechanisms for transforming and exchanging in addition to controlling. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:46:12Z |
| format | Working Paper |
| id | mit-1721.1/102921 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T11:46:12Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1029212019-04-11T08:51:25Z The Earth as an Engineering System: Addressing Sustainability through Science, Technology and Policy Selin, Noelle Eckley Friedman, Carey L. We combine insights from the two emerging fields of engineering systems and sustainability science to develop an analytical approach for understanding and managing coupled natural and human systems. The Earth system is characterized with reference to the attributes of engineering systems (real-world existence, artificiality, dynamic properties, hybrid state, and some human control). We argue that human influences have become so overwhelming that it is impossible to understand global Earth systems without taking into account both technical and social dimensions. Aspects of sustainability systems that fulfill functional types of engineering systems are enumerated with reference to five processes (transporting, transforming, storing, exchanging and controlling) and operands (living organisms, matter, information, energy and money). Building on methods from sustainability science, we introduce the concept of Spatial-Temporal-Functional (STF) analysis for addressing sustainability problems in an engineering systems context. We illustrate this framework with reference to the case of global transport of hazardous chemicals. Our analysis suggests that efforts to address cross-scale problems should focus on enhancing mechanisms for transforming and exchanging in addition to controlling. 2016-06-03T15:09:57Z 2016-06-03T15:09:57Z 2012-03 Working Paper http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/102921 en_US ESD Working Papers;ESD-WP-2012-06 application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division |
| spellingShingle | Selin, Noelle Eckley Friedman, Carey L. The Earth as an Engineering System: Addressing Sustainability through Science, Technology and Policy |
| title | The Earth as an Engineering System: Addressing Sustainability through Science, Technology and Policy |
| title_full | The Earth as an Engineering System: Addressing Sustainability through Science, Technology and Policy |
| title_fullStr | The Earth as an Engineering System: Addressing Sustainability through Science, Technology and Policy |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Earth as an Engineering System: Addressing Sustainability through Science, Technology and Policy |
| title_short | The Earth as an Engineering System: Addressing Sustainability through Science, Technology and Policy |
| title_sort | earth as an engineering system addressing sustainability through science technology and policy |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/102921 |
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