Kasey M. Faust, assistant professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, will present a seminar – “When Things Don’t Go as Planned; Challenges of Urban Decline and Rapid Growth in Today’s Cities” – at 11 a.m., Friday, Feb. 21, in SEC 111 and PKI 160.
This talk explores the consequences of population dynamics and our city infrastructure through a systems lens. Our cities are designed to support a certain number of people and follow a pre-planned growth trajectory.
When cities do not follow this plan over the long-term, we are challenged to continue to provide quality services (e.g. water, sanitation, housing) to the existing residents, with catastrophic consequences when we fail to effectively adapt. What happens to our cities when half of the population moves away like seen in Detroit or Flint? How is the Flint Water Crisis a product of this urban decline?
On the other hand, what happens when, overnight, we have 250,000 people arrive due to disaster migration like seen in Houston after Katrina, or Berlin during the current refugee crisis? What role does culture play in hosting displaced persons and the provision of services? These questions and others will be answered in this talk to understand how cities persist in the dynamic environment.