The Resilient Engineer

An increase in the magnitude and frequency of extreme events together with increases in urbanisation and population are testing the resilience of the social and economic infrastructure; that is the built environment. Over the years improvements in technology and changes to regulations have improved the performance of the built environment. This has raised community’s expectations but also lowered their resilience because of the success of the engineering profession to produce increasingly robust but complex systems. This is not sustainable because of the extreme events and because the increased resources required to create a resilient environment is contributing to climate change; a major cause of extreme events. Engineering is core to a resilient society and the role of the engineer has to change to help create a community that is able to cope with extreme events in an environment that is becoming more harmful. Achieving this means a fundamental shift in engineering education because the role of the engineer and engineering tools are changing. The 21st century engineer can no longer rely on the education that delivered the 20th century built environment. The 21st century engineer has to be resilient to cope with the pace of change that includes a shift in design placing more emphasis on outcomes and a shift in engaging society to help communities become more resilient.