Roger Jiao
ME 4182
Spring 2017

Cities and communities in the U.S. and around the world are entering a new era of transformational change, in which their inhabitants and the surrounding built and natural environments are increasingly connected by smart technologies, leading to new opportunities for innovation, improved services, and enhanced quality of life. While the traditional focus of our engineering system design is much geared towards development of physical products, the spectrum of product fulfillment must be expended to a broader context of creating sustainable communities that are aligned with the self-adaptability of learning organizations. The vision is that the product creation horizon will be shifted from a physical product perspective to a total life cycle experience. Product creation should be more than just dealing with pieces of hardware, but rather should be enacted as the c o-design of an entire ecosystem through sustainable communities, including fulfillment, services, experiences, human satisfaction, design innovation at the individual and the community levels. Going beyond tradition mechanical product design, this course encourages systems thinking and design from a broader SLS perspective. For example, one of the projects is sponsored by Center for Sustainable Communities (CSC-ATL), a non-profit organization that began in 2013 in Atlanta, Georgia, focusing on how to provide communities with resources/education to improve (cleaner, healthier, safer, more climate resilient, etc.) living environments.

Course Type
Course Level
Partner Engagement