Skip to content

Search problems, genes, families, sources

Find a problem Families All problems Notation & genes About

Loading…

A living collection from the Altringer Eagle Lab at Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering. Problems come from expert input and from what experts publish: research agendas, standards roadmaps, agency reports. The Problem Genome system drafts each write-up, and its sources are checked before it enters the collection. It can make mistakes. It exists to put problem definition at the center of innovation. Problem definitions here can be cited, and so can improvements to them. Teams can reach domain knowledge early and contribute what they learn.

How write-ups are checked Take the data Bring us a problem Teach with the collection

Genome › Domain

Domain · gene 13 of 20

the built environment

101 problems carry this gene · domain:infrastructure

Infrastructure problems are about systems that must keep working for decades. Flood early-warning systems stop working at the community level once pilot funding ends. Urban cooling strategies designed for temperate cities fail under tropical heat and humidity. Cooling benefits go to the neighborhoods that need them least. In each case a long-lived physical system meets short-lived funding, knowledge, or design assumptions.

Related genes

building and unbuildingconstructionHow buildings get made, measured, coded, and taken apart.moving people and goodstransportVehicles, mobility infrastructure, and the rules that govern them, on roads, in the air, and in orbit.supplying and protecting waterwaterWater supply, treatment, and sanitation, and the aging buried systems nobody can inspect without digging.power and its storageenergyGeneration, storage, distribution, and efficiency, from grid batteries to the energy bill of a vertical farm.

How to recognize it

A problem counts as infrastructure when it concerns the built environment as a system: housing, urban networks, long-lived public assets. The act of construction and the movement of vehicles are separate domains.

Our system re-reads samples blind to test genes like this one. Genes it disagrees on are drawn dashed.

All 101 problems in infrastructure, grouped by why they are stuck. Filter them, then share the link.

tested in the wrong world34

field: the built worldthe pole that whips oncehigh field: food & the living worldthe house that didn't burnmedium field: the built worldcracks you cannot rule outmedium field: the built worldbridges with no bottomhigh field: food & the living worldthe cable breaks, the wind farm goes darkmedium field: the built worldthe building runs on protocols with no passwordshigh field: water & energyso many alarms, none get answeredmedium field: digital & spacethe satellite can't see the settlements that need itmedium field: the built worldconcrete below the waterline is invisiblehigh field: the built worldthe bridge rusts where you cannot lookhigh field: the built worldsix billion gallons lost through pipes we cannot seehigh field: the built worldtwo engineers, two verdicts, one bridgehigh field: making & materialsevery truckload of fly ash is a surprisemedium field: the built worldradar goes blind in wet claymedium field: the built worldasphalt graded for yesterday's weathermedium field: the built worldmillimeter precision in the factory, gaps on sitemedium field: the built worldthe robot gets lost on the job sitemedium field: the built worldwaiting for concrete to cure, guessing whenmedium field: food & the living worldevery city counts its emissions differentlyhigh field: water & energythe ceiling sweats before it coolsmedium field: water & energywarm all winter, dirty at peakmedium field: digital & spacehandoff at seventeen thousand miles per hourhigh field: food & the living worldshade won't save a humid citymedium field: water & energythe slow leaks nobody detectshigh field: water & energyno fire suppression works on a burning batteryhigh field: water & energyfour hours of storage for a hundred hours of needhigh field: water & energytoo heavy to fly cleanhigh field: digital & spacespectrum sharing that only works in theoryhigh field: water & energyhydrogen flows before the rules arrivehigh field: water & energytwo million miles of pipe, no failure mapmedium field: digital & spaceexplain the defense, expose the weaknesshigh field: water & energybus batteries die on the route, not in the labmedium field: water & energythe building has no twinhigh field: the built worldknock out power, lose water, lose everythinghigh

measured the wrong thing9

field: health & medicinethey tested. they know. they wait.high field: water & energythe sewage that never arriveshigh field: water & energyleak metrics that lie when taps run dryhigh field: society & learningshelters designed for winter, deployed in the desertmedium field: the built worldrain gardens with no scorecardhigh field: water & energythe heatwave takes the grid downmedium field: water & energytested in tokyo, sold in lagosmedium field: the built worldfire codes that protect against the wrong firehigh field: water & energythe savings were never realhigh

the rules got in the way17

field: water & energysame gas, four diagnosesmedium field: the built worldwaiting for the earthquake to decidehigh field: the built worldthe levee invited the neighborhoodhigh field: food & the living worlda century of saving forests built the infernohigh field: the built worldverifying the message takes longer than the braking windowhigh field: the built worldthe bearing fails between detectorshigh field: the built worldthe pipe leaks, nobody shuts it offhigh field: the built worldboats without smoke detectorshigh field: the built worldno rule says the car must watch the driverhigh field: the built worldsee-and-avoid at two hundred knotshigh field: the built worldthree percent of the pipes, most of the leakshigh field: the built worldbuilding codes that ignore the tornado's spinhigh field: the built worldmaterials rated for a climate that's gonehigh field: water & energypipes sized by a 1940s formulahigh field: the built worldtwenty-one years of spectrum, handed to wi-fihigh field: the built worlddrone rules that cite standards that don't existhigh field: water & energytwenty-five hundred gigawatts in linemedium

built without the people who'd live with it18

field: water & energygrants built for big utilitieshigh field: the built worldnobody owns america's addresseshigh field: the built worldnobody goes backhigh field: the built worldthe centrifuge waits six monthshigh field: water & energypower for shacks, designed for houseshigh field: digital & spacefive decades of government software, none compatiblemedium field: water & energythe worst air conditioners go southmedium field: digital & spacethe lock is welded shutmedium field: food & the living worldthe kilns changed, the workers didn'tmedium field: health & medicinetoo far from the nearest hospitalhigh field: the built worldthree companies tried, three failedmedium field: the built worldchargers everywhere except where they're neededhigh field: food & the living worldcool parks in rich neighborhoodshigh field: food & the living worldthe warning system nobody maintainshigh field: the built worldcollision avoidance that stops at the yard gatehigh field: water & energywinter halves the batteryhigh field: water & energythe water plant runs on outdated softwaremedium field: the built worldsmart defenses for dumb controllershigh

the economics don't work5

field: food & the living worldthe stations that fall silenthigh field: water & energythe price of a full pithigh field: digital & spaceno cash at the end of the linemedium field: water & energyno fuse exists for this voltagehigh field: water & energyup to four years for a large power transformermedium

it fell between the cracks18

field: the built worldseven stars and a damp wallhigh field: water & energythe chlorine pump accepts any commandhigh field: food & the living worldthe microbes between the wallsmedium field: the built worldsixty-two ships for six hundred cablesmedium field: digital & spacepassive surfaces can't hear what they reflecthigh field: the built worldsealed for efficiency, sick from the airhigh field: health & medicinebreathing blindhigh field: the built worldthe crash the car never trained forhigh field: digital & spacemillions of parts, no map of the wholemedium field: the built worldfire models stop where buildings starthigh field: the built worldsmart city pilots that can't talk to each otherhigh field: food & the living worldthe fault line keeps its schedule secrethigh field: food & the living worlddisasters that multiply, models that don'thigh field: digital & spacesolar storms arrive before the forecasthigh field: digital & spaceno proof for the neural network insidehigh field: digital & spacesafe alone, dangerous togetherhigh field: digital & spacesafe when we tested it, untested sincemedium field: digital & spaceno proof the robot will behavehigh