CEE 3000B Exam 1 - Fall 2023

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Georgia Institute Of Technology *

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3000

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Civil Engineering

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Oct 30, 2023

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CEE 3000B: CIVIL ENGINEERING SYSTEMS EXAM 1 Fall 2023 Assigned/Due: 9/14/2023 Name: __Elayna Pak____________________ Date: ___9-14-2023_______________________ Instructions for Completing this Exam General This exam is designed to be an individual and closed-book exam. You may not ask anyone anything about the exam, except the instructor. Questions Answer all questions. Assumptions State all assumptions clearly. Resources Required and Allowed Writing instrument Calculator Submission Submit one pdf with all your responses via Canvas. Georgia Institute of Technology | School of Civil & Environmental Engineering

1. Definitions of sustainability (20 points) a. There are many definitions of sustainability. Please define sustainability from the civil engineering systems context below. It is not necessary to note the organization that you are citing should you choose to use a formal definition. i. Environmental, economic, and social conditions in place in order to raise and maintain quality of life without degrading the natural resources or the ability for and resources for future generations. b. Please define sustainable development below. i. Development made to meet needs and standards of food, water, necessities, and natural resources without affecting the quality of the environment or depleting natural resources for future development. c. Why is sustainable development important for civil and environmental engineering? i. Sustainable development practices are a balance of the triple bottom line where engineers are able to meet social, environmental, and economic needs as best as possible without severely depleting or negatively affecting either of the three categories. 2. The City of Atlanta is planning to implement congestion pricing in Midtown and Downtown core. City and state officials want to know how this will affect 4 different forms of capital (also referred to as elements of sustainability in Labi, 2014). Please list them below, and a something you would measure to assess project performance for that element. (20 points) a. Human capital i. Compare quality of life/natural capital models from before and after implementation to compare quality of life compared and observe whether the triaxial model shape has changed in order to favor human, resource, or environmental impact b. Natural capital i. CO2 emissions before and after implementation c. Economic capital i. Compare the amount of amount bus or metro passes bought before and after implementation 2

d. Built capital i. Needed amount of repairs on a monthly basis before and after the plan There will be tolling stations on the Downtown Connector (Interstate 75 and 85). To complete the project, might the city need to complete a federally mandated report to assess elements of sustainability related to the project? If so, what is the report called? e. Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) What law mandates the report? f. National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) 3

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3. The City of Atlanta would like to communicate how it is focusing on sustainability using a visual model that notes their priorities. They heard about the Venn diagram and concentric circle models. Please fill in the model below . You need only write one word in each text box. (5 points) 4 Sustainability Society Economy Environment Economic Society Environment

b. Please advise Atlanta on which of the two models shown above they should use. Your answer should include an explanation on how the models differ from each other, and what each communicates or prioritizes . (5 points) Atlanta should consult more to the Venn diagram model, which better understands the correlating importance of society, economy and environment as the key to sustainability as opposed to the Russian nesting doll model which emphasizes the importance of environment and places economy as the least important, and although environment is important, it is unrealistic to say that just because the environment is thriving the city is promoting sustainability because for a city to maintain that sustainability, human quality of life as well as economic prosperity will also play a large factor and will keep the balance of sustainability better. 5

4. Study the data in Tables 1 below, and answer the questions below using the data in the tables. (25 points) Table 1: Socioeconomic Data for selected countries Measures Country GDP per capita (USD/person, 2022) Ecological Footprint per capita (GHa/person, 2022) GINI coefficient (2020) Mexico (N) 11,091 2.3 .454 Netherlands (NL) 55,985 6.0 .26 USA (U) 76,398 7.5 .397 Sources: Global Footprint Network Data Platform ( https://data.footprintnetwork.org/#/ ) | World Bank ( https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.CD?view=map ) | ( https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.GINI ) Rank the countries (from high to low) using the following sustainability performance measures, providing reasons for your rankings. Identify two limitations of your analyses. Organize your responses using the table below. (a) Equity ( 3 points ) Ranking (Most to least equitable): NL, U, N Reason: The GINI coefficient is an indicator of distribution of income and is primarily used as a gauge of economic inequality and NL has the highest equality (if the Coefficient is closer to 0) as opposed to N which has the greatest GINI Coefficient (b) Environment ( 3 points ) Ranking (Most environmentally friendly to least): N, NL, U Reason: Higher ecological footprints indicate that the country has a higher impact on the environment (c) Economic ( 3 points ) Ranking (Most economic output to least): U, NL, N Reason: The greater the GDP, the higher the value of goods and services that are provided within the country, and is a good indication of economic wealth ( amount of money being transferred throughout the country) (f) What are two limitations of your analysis? (6 points ) 1. All three of the data sets don’t measure human well being which is a major element of sustainability 2. Ecological footprint accounts for demand on the land and environment but being entirely 6

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hypothetical it can’t accurately measure true land use (g) Provide one recommendation to each country to develop more sustainably in the future. (10 points) Mexico: Economic and equality indicators go more hand in hand than with environmental indicators so if Mexico could improve their economic or equality sectors, based upon the interlocking Venn Diagram model, their the other, as well as environmental sustainability will also follow, and usually education can promote both factors. The Netherlands: promoting more tourism or capitalism may help in increasing their GDP and promoting economic growth USA: Focus on improving in the environmental sector such as overall land or GHG and Carbon emissions or start taxing certain roads or highly congested areas 7

5. Discuss the relationships between system resilience and environmental sustainability. Why are these subjects currently of great interest and attention worldwide? Organize your response (1/2 to 1 page) using the table below. (25 points) You may draw from the video lecture by Dr. G. Wayne Clough 2 , and/or other sources. What are the relationships between system resilience and sustainability? ( 6 points ) A system’s resilience is the ability to anticipate changes and possible impacts and refer to how they are able to take in those impacts or recover from them. Sustainability is a set of conditions in order for a society to maintain and improve its quality of life without depleting resources or lowering the quality of life Both words focus on a somethings ability to maintain the quality and function that it holds for an undefined period of time. What is the relationship between adaptation and resilience? (6 points) In your answer, please provide note an example project (real or imagined) that demonstrates these ideas. State how the project does so. (6 points) While adaptation is the ability of something to adapt to a change, resilience is the ability to predict and withstand that change or impact. For example, the Panama canal was initially built to withstand 100 year floods in preparation for such an event happening And example of adaptability would be buildings or houses near coastal cities being built higher or being built to have flooded areas to deal with higher flood rates Why are the above subjects currently of great interest and attention worldwide? (7 points) Building upon the two factors adaptability and resilience can improve longevity of a project as well as promote sustainability and with climate change and the constant eruption of new and harrowing natural impacts that we have never seen before, such as the increase in clear sky floodings, it is important for innovation and sustainability that engineers build structures and systems that can withstand events that may soon become the norm. 8