Do civil engineering systems need systematising? Tackling complexity – top 10 issues for civil engineering systems

Abstract

Civil engineering systems is crucially about promoting and developing ‘systems thinking’ to solve or resolve civil engineering problems. The gaps between practice, theory and why things go wrong have narrowed but there is still much to be done. Civil engineering systems thinkers have absorbed and applied the ideas of others. But we have also developed ideas that are relevant outside of our own domain and evidence of our influence is growing. Five examples are modelling, conceptions of uncertainty and risk, the critical importance of the legal ‘duty of care’ and the relationship between ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ systems. Ten generic questions are discussed and tentative answers given. They include, what is the status of a model compared to a theory? What constitutes practical rigour? Are hard and soft systems irreconcilable? What is the nature of truth? How do we characterise and model uncertainty? Are risk and vulnerability different? Do risks incubate or emerge?

Keywords:

• uncertainty
• model
• risk
• soft systems
• hard systems