Special Topics: International Climate Adaptation & Infrastructure Innovation

Course Number: 12-765

Although an international problem, climate change will affect each country's critical infrastructure in diverse ways.

This course will focus on understanding how international communities are adapting and innovating to reduce critical infrastructure risk.

Students will be able to list and describe natural hazards affected by climate change, focusing on their impacts on natural and built critical infrastructure systems in physically, socially, and economically diverse countries.

Students will then use cost-benefit analysis, the triple bottom line approach (physical, social, economic), and robust decision making to analyze, compare and contrast different countries' responses.

The class will culminate in a final paper and presentation on one country's approach to decision-making under uncertainty for adaptation.

Semester(s): Fall
Units: 6

Learning Objectives

By the end of the semester, you should be able to:

• Understand risk
• Define risk, hazard, vulnerability, exposure, adaptation, hazard mitigation, greenhouse gas mitigation
• Explain the link between some natural hazards and climate change
• List 10 natural hazards and their impacts on the international community
• Analyze outcomes/impacts
• Predict how physically, socially, and economically detrimental a given natural hazard will actually be in different critical infrastructure systems
• Compare and contrast different adaptations to reduce risk
• Create recommendations for improving adaptation in an international community