Teaching about Complex Sociotechnical Systems (CSS)

Prof Chris Magee and I teach the doctoral seminar in engineering systems (ESD.83) required for all ESD doctoral students usually in the first semester they are registered as doctoral students. One of the assignments deals with students characterizing a complex sociotechnical system (CSS) of interest to them along various dimensions. For this assignment we provide them with the following paper: Complex, Sociotechnical Systems (CSS): Some Fundamental Concepts and ask the students to use the framework provided by the paper to do their characterizations. I thought this short paper (and the assignment) would be of interested to faculty teaching other comparable courses in various programs in engineering, management, systems engineering, social science, and so forth. We include the assignment itself as an appendix to the paper. Comments are more than welcome. I emphasize this is not intended as a research paper but more a teaching note to help students structure their thinking in a consistent manner

ITS: What We Know Now that We Wish We Knew Then: A Retrospective on the ITS 1992 Strategic Plan

From September 1991 until June 1992, a core writing team, which included the author, worked on what was the first Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) strategic plan in the United States. This plan was entitled, "A Strategic Plan for IVHS in the United States." It served to define the ITS program at a national scale in a way that has been characterized as seminal. The plan, by most accounts, served as the blueprint for the early development of ITS in the U.S. and as the basis for the subsequent plans produced by ITS America, the federal government, various states, and a number of private-sector organizations. This paper explores numerous aspects of ITS retrospectively, contrasting views from 11 years ago, when the Strategic Plan was produced, with the current reality. Areas discussed include Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS), Advanced Transportation Management Systems (ATMS), reliability, getting the ITS program off the ground in the early 90s, strategic use of information, automated network management, electronic toll collection (ETC), congestion pricing, architecture, commercial vehicle operations (CVO), Advanced Public Transportation Systems (APTS), and regions. The paper closes by comparing ITS with the Interstate, and finally by discussing the upcoming reauthorization of the Transportation Efficiency Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) and what has been learned through this retrospective about ITS-related issues on that reauthorization

ESD Summer Reading Lists 2003–2013

Back in 2003, when ESD was a toddler of about 4 1⁄2, we were preparing for our spring semester offsite traditionally held at the end of the academic year in late May or early June. I had the idea of preparing a short list of books with relevance to the ESD mission-the study of complex sociotechnical systems-and presented that idea to the then (and founding) ESD director Prof. Daniel Roos. He agreed it would be worthwhile as an experiment, and so I did create the first ESD Summer Faculty Reading List. A “summer” reading list carries the suggestion of books you can take to “the beach”. So no “text books” were included. The books were treatments of critical contemporary issues that the world faces, important methods and perspectives germane to these issues and the complex sociotechnical systems in general, and relevant history. In retrospect, the beach would likely be too distracting a venue for many of these books! I got some “attaboys” on the 2003 list. A number of my colleagues said it was nice to take a look at my ideas about what books might be interesting reading. So with that positive feedback, I began to do this ESD Faculty Summer Reading List each year. When I did it the second year, I noted that this had now become a “tradition” and with an organization as young as ESD, we needed all the traditions we could get. You can see where it has gone from here. The tradition has continued to the present day, with now eleven years of history for this reading list. In the early days, the commentary on the books was largely my own. As years wore on we would include materials that others-the publisher or book reviewers-had prepared with some supplementary comments from me. And in later years my comments became less and less prevalent and even non-existent. Another thing we did regularly was to include books that had been published during that current academic year by ESD faculty, so this served as a mechanism for highlighting the scholarly work of my ESD colleagues and in 2012, the four books in the MIT Press Engineering Systems book series were all included. In any case, we have these reading lists encompassing books over this eleven-year period and thought it would be helpful to publish it as an ESD working paper to give our colleagues at MIT and outside the Institute access in one document to this eclectic potpourri of books. You may even find something you want to read that you missed the first time around. We hope the reader finds this compendium to be useful and we look forward to any feedback that you may have including suggestions for 2014 and forward

Design of Ground Delay Programs Considering the Stakeholder Perspective

A Ground Delay Program (GDP) is an initiative used by the FAA to manage the rate at which aircraft demand arrival at capacity-constrained airports. In this paper, we adapt a framework developed by Mitchell et al. (1997) to identify and determine the importance of the key stakeholders in the design of a GDP. Comparing our results with current practice, we find that passengers and the federal government do not receive consideration that is commensurate with their level of importance. We conclude with suggestions for how the FAA might address this disparity in the design of GDPs

Discontinuous Regions: High-Speed Rail and the Limits of Traditional Governance

Globalization and the interconnectivity of the economy have magnified the role of regions, restructuring social and economic relationships into networks that span increasing distances. At the same time, greater attention is due to localized urban quality, as non-vehicular modes and compact forms of development become critical in an environmentally conscious world. Within this context, increasing interest and adoption of high-speed rail (HSR)—a mode that addresses multiple scales—is unsurprising. HSR technology is used both to respond to existing trends of increased interconnectivity between urban centers and to enhance economic connections within regions and mega-regions. HSR has the unique ability to enable long-distance commuting across discontinuous regions that are far enough apart so as not to be adequately integrated by auto travel. This new geography of daily experiences has important potential implications for governance and relations among cities. Using Portugal as a case study, this paper examines the relationship between HSR development and new models of spatial organization and governance. Based on interviews with national and local officials, we discuss ways in which HSR planning is changing attitudes towards regional identity and urban governance, including: the integration of national entities into local planning processes, the potential for new models of commuting, and the role of HSR as an exogenous catalyst for regional cooperation. The case study reveals how HSR can serve as a catalyst for governments to rethink regional identity, intergovernmental relationships, and competitive positioning. The prospect of HSR implementation raises the profile of potential intraregional complementarity and highlights the importance of inter-governmental relationships

Design and Management of Flexible Transportation Networks Through the use of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS)

Designing a flexible system with real options is a method for managing uncertainty. In this research, Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) capabilities were used to create a flexible transportation system, capable of coping with multiple uncertainties. Specifically, HOT, BRT and TOT managed lanes were examined in a case study centered in Houston, Tx, to determine the benefits of flexibility these capabilities provide. A qualitative analysis procedure utilizing regional traffic demand modeling and real options analysis was utilized to assess these benefits. It was found that ITS managed lanes can be configured in multiple ways to create flexibility in transportation systems, each of which provides value when dealing with uncertainty