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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.

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Genome › Scale

Scale · gene 5 of 5

a city or region

69 problems carry this gene · scale:regional

Regional problems span a city, a state, or several communities that share geography or infrastructure: an urban heat island, a river basin, a regional grid. At this scale physical systems and local politics become tied together. The problem is too big for one community to fix and small enough that national policy often overlooks it.

Related genes

a neighborhood or villagecommunityOperates at the level of a neighborhood, village, or single local organization.a whole countrynationalCountry-level systems or policy: regulations, codes, national infrastructure, and markets.needs an organization on boardinstitutionalA solution only works if an organization formally adopts or integrates it.

How to recognize it

A problem is regional when it spans a city, state, or several communities and stops short of country-level systems.

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

69 problems in 13 fields. Filter them, then share the link.

field: the built worldnobody taught the boda riderthe economics don't workhigh field: the built worldthe app that rides alongbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: water & energysprings nobody measuredbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: water & energysalt or germsbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: food & the living worldthe house that didn't burntested in the wrong worldmedium field: society & learningtutoring the wrong percentiletested in the wrong worldhigh field: food & the living worlda machine needed only in the rainthe economics don't workhigh field: food & the living worldbeetle notches four months latethe economics don't workhigh field: water & energywhen the lights go out on the loanthe economics don't workmedium field: water & energytemperate fixes for tropical acid minestested in the wrong worldhigh field: food & the living worldthe cable breaks, the wind farm goes darktested in the wrong worldmedium field: the built worldthe centrifuge waits six monthsbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinesame fever, three diseasestested in the wrong worldhigh field: health & medicineforty years studied, nowhere replicatedbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinefactories that can't pass who inspectionthe rules got in the wayhigh field: food & the living worldtwo billion people's water, almost no monitoringit fell between the crackshigh field: food & the living worldthe lake burst, the warning didn't arrivebuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: food & the living worldgreen batteries, dry villagesbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: water & energygrid systems that refuse to talkbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: water & energydrill for heat, trigger the quaketested in the wrong worldmedium field: food & the living worldflood-proof rice, flood-blocked deliverytested in the wrong worldhigh field: food & the living worldhigh-yield rice nobody wants to eatbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: food & the living worldninety percent of fields unsurveyedbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: food & the living worlddesertification measured by the wrong maptested in the wrong worldhigh field: the built worldradar goes blind in wet claytested in the wrong worldmedium field: the built worldrain gardens with no scorecardmeasured the wrong thinghigh field: the built worldmillimeter precision in the factory, gaps on sitetested in the wrong worldmedium field: the built worldthe robot gets lost on the job sitetested in the wrong worldmedium field: food & the living worldevery city counts its emissions differentlytested in the wrong worldhigh field: water & energywarm all winter, dirty at peaktested in the wrong worldmedium field: water & energythe worst air conditioners go southbuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: society & learningloans that lifted, then buriedmeasured the wrong thinghigh field: food & the living worldone fix for a million hectares of peattested in the wrong worldmedium field: food & the living worldthe fish ladder almost no fish can climbtested in the wrong worldhigh field: food & the living worldshade won't save a humid citytested in the wrong worldmedium field: food & the living worldthe delta chooses concrete over waterthe rules got in the waymedium field: food & the living worldthe cure that clears the waymeasured the wrong thinghigh field: food & the living worldthe harvest that hollowed the landit fell between the crackshigh field: food & the living worldfew days from first sign to empty pondtested in the wrong worldhigh field: food & the living worldthe mold cure nobody usesbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: water & energythe slow leaks nobody detectstested in the wrong worldhigh field: health & medicinea thousand studies, nine worth trustingbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: water & energythe water after the fireit fell between the cracksmedium field: the built worldmonitoring built for new buildings, not old onesit fell between the crackshigh field: food & the living worldcool parks in rich neighborhoodsbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicinecurable but unconfirmabletested in the wrong worldhigh field: water & energypredictable power, prohibitive pricethe economics don't workhigh field: the built worldfire models stop where buildings startit fell between the crackshigh field: the built worldsmart city pilots that can't talk to each otherit fell between the crackshigh field: food & the living worldthe fault line keeps its schedule secretit fell between the crackshigh field: food & the living worldevery hillside plays by different rulestested in the wrong worldhigh field: food & the living worlddisasters that multiply, models that don'tit fell between the crackshigh field: food & the living worldbillions in monitoring, forecasts still failtested in the wrong worldhigh field: digital & spaceeurope's satellites run on american chipsbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: health & medicineantivenom waits at hospitals victims can't reachthe economics don't workhigh field: water & energytwo million miles of pipe, no failure maptested in the wrong worldmedium field: water & energythe water plant runs on outdated softwarebuilt without the people who'd live with itmedium field: food & the living worldfood needs water, neither system talksit fell between the cracksmedium field: food & the living worldharvested, then losttested in the wrong worldmedium field: making & materialsmandated green, can't afford the transitionbuilt without the people who'd live with ithigh field: water & energybus batteries die on the route, not in the labtested in the wrong worldmedium field: water & energygarbage in, corrosion outtested in the wrong worldmedium field: water & energythe building has no twintested in the wrong worldhigh field: water & energythe savings were never realmeasured the wrong thinghigh field: food & the living worldthe energy cost per lettucetested in the wrong worldmedium field: food & the living worldsatellites see the spill but not its depthtested in the wrong worldhigh field: the built worldknock out power, lose water, lose everythingtested in the wrong worldhigh field: food & the living worldevery field varies, every sensor averagesthe economics don't workhigh field: food & the living worldthirty-five years and the sensor still doesn't worktested in the wrong worldhigh