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Sample Discussion Assignment

In this week's discussion assignment, you will discuss how cities and their infrastructures can be conceived as complex systems by identifying interconnections and feedback processes of a specific system.

The class will be organized into groups of four to five students. These groups will remain intact for discussion assignments for the remainder of the quarter. An online discussion forum will be set up for each group in order to discuss the topic per the directions below. Specific groupings and relevant Web addresses are posted on the general discussion forum.

Each team will be assigned one of the following infrastructure or public service systems to analyze.

Infrastructure Systems

  • waste water and drainage
  • transportation
  • solid waste
  • utilities
    • fuel
    • electricity

Public Services

  • social services (mental health, welfare, etc)
  • education
  • criminal justice
  • health
  • parks and recreation

Guidelines for Your Group Discussion

  1. Select one person from your group to act as moderator. This person will lead and summarize the discussion, get the team's approval, and post the group's summary to the main course discussion thread. Each group member should have at least one chance of being a moderator during the course.
  2. With your group, analyze the assigned system by answering the following questions:
    1. What are the feedback loops within the system?
    2. What interactions are there between this system and other infrastructures?
    3. To what extent do you agree or disagree with other members?
  3. When some degree of agreement is reached, the group moderator must synthesize and summarize the group's findings on the general discussion forum. This should be completed by the due date listed on the course calendar.
  4. Each team's final posting will be available to the entire class and the instructor will comment on each of them.
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