A Workshop on Earth Systems Engineering: A Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering Approach

目前有60亿人口，越来越多的人认识到，人类正在以人类历史上前所未有的速度在从局部到全球的各个尺度上改变地球的自然系统。一般而言，大多数人造项目涉及非自然系统(如机器或基础设施)与自然系统(生物圈、水圈、地圈)的相互作用。工程学是人类社会的核心要素，在建立维持今世后代生活质量所需的结构时，需要理解并考虑到自然系统和非自然系统之间的关系。传统上，工程实践和工程教育一直基于控制自然的范式，而不是与自然合作的范式。在这个范式中，人类和自然界是分开的。因此，过去的工程成就在发展时往往没有考虑到它们对自然系统的社会、经济和环境影响。在全球范围内向更全面的工程方法过渡，需要从控制自然到参与自然的重大范式转变。例如，什么是可持续工程结构或系统的问题仍然是一个开放的问题，需要工程师们解决和澄清。工程师需要得到比当今工程课程传统上教授的更广泛和更全面的教育。例如，理解工程结构如何适应自然系统的能力至关重要。显然，21世纪的工程师将被要求在专业环境中做出决定，在这种环境中，他们将不得不与许多技术和非技术学科的其他人互动。为了应对地球今天和不久的将来可能面临的全球性问题，以及自然和自然系统之间相互作用的复杂性，我们正在科罗拉多大学博尔德分校土木、环境和建筑工程系开发一项名为地球系统工程(ESE)的新倡议。作为这项倡议的第一步，我们计划于2001年10月4-6日在CU Boulder校园举办一次关于ESE的国际研讨会。研讨会为期三天，将汇集工业界、政府和大学来自工程、物理科学、生物科学和社会科学的参与者。研讨会的总体目的有三个方面：(1)提供跨学科交流的知识框架；(2)就未来工程学教育、研究和实践的方向提出建议，以了解从地方到区域和全球的多个尺度上自然和非自然系统之间的相互作用；(3)在水资源、地质力学、环境和土木工程、环境和建筑工程的其他子领域提出新的工程学概念。更具体地说，研讨会将审议自然系统与非自然系统的相互作用，如土木、环境和建筑基础设施(如建筑环境)。ESE研究、教育和外展的所有三个组成部分将贯穿整个讲习班。

With a current population of 6 billion, there is growing recognition that humans are altering the Earth's natural systems at all scales from local to global at an unprecedented rate in the human history. In general, most human-made projects involve the interactions of non-natural systems (such as machines or infrastructures) with natural systems (biosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere). Engineering, being a central element of human society, needs to understand and take into account the relationships between natural and non-natural systems when creating structures needed to sustain the quality of life of current and future generations. Traditionally, engineering practice and engineering education have been based on the paradigm of control of nature rather than cooperation with nature. In this paradigm, humans and the natural world are divided. As a result, past engineering achievements have often been developed without considering their social, economic and environmental impacts on natural systems. A worldwide transition to a more holistic approach to engineering requires a major paradigm shift from control of nature to participation with nature. For example, the question of what represents a sustainable engineering structure or system is still an open-ended question that needs to be addressed and clarified by engineers.Engineers need to be given a much broader and integrated education than what is traditionally taught in engineering curricula today. For example, an ability to understand how engineering structures adapt and adjust to natural systems is critical. It is clear that engineers of the 21st century will be called to make decisions in a professional environment where they will have to interact with others from many technical and non-technical disciplines. In response to the global nature of the problems that Earth is facing today and is likely to face in the near future and in view of the complexity of the interaction between natural and natural systems, we are developing a new initiative called Earth Systems Engineering (ESE) in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder. As a first step in this initiative, we are planning to conduct an international workshop on ESE on October 4-6, 2001 on the CU Boulder campus. The workshop will be three days in length and will bring together industry, government and university participants from engineering, physical sciences, biological sciences, and social sciences. The overall purpose of the workshop is three-fold: (1) provide an intellectual framework for interdisciplinary exchange, (2) provide recommendations on the future course of engineering education, research, and practice in the understanding of the interaction between natural and non-natural systems at multiple scales from local to regional and global, and (3) recommend new engineering concepts in water resources, geomechanical, environmental, and other sub-fields in Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering. More specifically, the workshop will consider the interaction of natural systems with non-natural systems such as civil, environmental and architectural infrastructures (e.g. the built environment). All three components of ESE research, education and outreach will be addressed throughout the workshop.