Friday, 24 August 2007
The Impact of Infrastructure on our Daily Lives
« Levee Lessons Carry from Coast to Coast | Main | Pearls of Wisdom »Last week, I traveled to Chicago for the opening of ASCE's Me, Myself and Infrastructure: Private Lives and Public Works in America exhibit. I would like to thank Greg Dreicer from the Chicago Architectural Foundation for his partnership in bringing this exhibit to Chicago and putting the grand opening event together. The opening reception attracted a number of civil engineers and architects, in addition to others who were simply interested in learning more about the social impact of infrastructure. The relationship between civil engineers and architects is a special one. Engineers and architects are vested in the integrity of our infrastructure-both structurally and aesthetically. They depend on each other to make infrastructure sustainable and appealing for generations to come, which made the partnership on resurrecting this display very appropriate.
This display was originally conceived five years ago as part of ASCE's 150th anniversary celebration. At the time, ASCE approached this display as an investigation of infrastructure as the public would see it. The re-introduction of this display is very timely as infrastructure has remained a hot topic in the years since the display was first introduced. The shocking bridge collapse in Minneapolis, and the failure of the levees in New Orleans have made Americans more aware of infrastructure issues, but the following questions still remain: How safe is our infrastructure? Who's responsible? And, how much will building and fixing it cost? The exhibit addresses these tough questions and encourages visitors to look at infrastructure as much more than just beams, pipes and roadways.
If you're in Chicago in the next several months, I encourage you to stop by and see the exhibit. It will be on display at the Chicago Architectural Foundation through November 16th.