Iris Publishers- Journal of Civil and Structural Engineering
Iris Publishers - Journal of Civil and Structural Engineering The Emerging Need for Civil Engineering Design to Embrace a New Systems Approach to the Solution of Complex Problems in Rapidly Changing Technical and Political Landscapes Abstract Traditional solutions to engineering problems have utilized long standing methods developed using deterministic algorithms to arrive at optimal solutions to problems which are relatively easily defined. In a modern, rapidly changing technical and political landscape, these traditional methods do not react rapidly enough to emerging outcomes dependent on interactions between multiple variable systems. The author considers the efficacy of traditional approaches when applied to solving modern complex problems and suggests that there is much our industry could gain by adopting the types of techniques being developed in other fields of expertise. Introduction Picture a scene of a wandering explorer hiking through a mountainous unexplored landscape...