Urban Systems

Key Faculty: Garrick Louis, William Scherer, Yacov Y. Haimes

Area Description: Urban systems are comprised of the processes by which life in metropolitan areas is organized and operated. These processes may be grouped into four major categories of; infrastructure, built environment/planning, administration and human services. The urban systems program in Systems Engineering will focus primarily on urban infrastructure. Within this focus, it will emphasize the systems associated with municipal solid waste, sewerage, wastewater and drinking water supply. Related infrastructures include transportation, energy and communications. The program pursues three general themes: the system requirements for sustainable urban infrastructure, lifecycle analysis of urban infrastructure and the opportunities for and implications of integration across urban infrastructure systems. While the technical processes considered are urban environmental systems, the analytical tools employed and policy issues investigated can be generalized to the other categories of urban systems besides infrastructure.
Potential Courses: partial listing, see Key Faculty for details
SYS 616Knowledge-Based Systems
SYS 670Environmental Systems Analysis
SYS 702Case Studies in Systems Engineering
SYS 721Research Methods in Systems Engineering
SYS 781Advanced Topics in Systems Engineering
CE 634Geographic Information Systems
CE 640Wastewater Treatment
CE 641Water Quality Modeling
CE 644Water Chemistry for Environmental Engineering
CE 731Project Planning
CE 742Modeling Environmental Fate/Effect of Contaminants
CS 662Database Systems
MAE 665Computer Aided Engineering & Design
NE 501Nuclear Engineering Fundamentals
EVSC 521Air Quality Planning
EVSC 560Land Use Policies
EVGE 578Groundwater Hydrology
GFAP 760Public Administration
GFAP 844Urban Politics
GFAP 868Urban Administration and Policy
PHIL 752Contemporary Ethics
PSYS 522Fundamentals of Motivation
PLAN 501/502Urban Design
PLAN 504Design of Cities
PLAN 506Mapping a Community’s Future
PLAN 511Information Technology in Planning
PLAN 524Consensus Building, Negotiation & Mediation
PLAN 550Natural Systems & Environmental Planning
PLAN 551Sustainable Communities
PLAN 553Environmental Policy & Planning
PLAN 554Environmental Values & Ethics
PLAN 555Environmental Impact Assessment
PLAN 560Land Use Policies & Planning
PLAN 607Urban Theory & Public Policy
Example Concentration Areas

A student interested in any area has the ability to customize his course selection to fit his concentration. Possible concentrations within Urban Systems include:

Urban Environmental Systems

SYS 670
SYS 781
CE 634
CE 640
EVSC 521
PLAN 607
Information Technology for Urban Systems

SYS 616
SYS 650
CE 634
CS 662
PLAN 504
PLAN 511

Job Opportunities

Possible opportunities include public planning agencies, Municipal government, private civil/environmental engineering firms, and public consulting firms.