Risk by Design: Building Resilience into Urban Infrastructure

This course provides a holistic framework for understanding and managing systemic risks in urban environments.

Drawing from integrated lenses of sustainability, disaster resilience, and public health, the course moves from foundational theory to applied strategy.

Students examine how to design, evaluate, and implement urban systems that are equitable, climate-resilient, and sustainable.

Students learn a practical methodology called risk mechanism design (RMD), a strategic approach that moves beyond traditional risk management.

Using real world tools such as the World Bank's climate resilience investment framework and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)-Jameel Index for food trade vulnerability, students diagnose how shocks (such as wildfires, floods, supply chain disruptions, and pandemics) propagate through cities.

The course emphasizes case studies from Los Angeles, Mumbai, Lagos, and Mali, giving students hands-on experience in designing infrastructure and policy responses that are both adaptive and equitable.

By the end of the course, students are able to produce a strategic resilience plan for a city or region, applying RMD's mathematical modeling to measure risks and quantify their potential impacts.

This course is ideal for advanced students and practitioners in urban planning, sustainability, public health, and infrastructure management who want to lead evidence-based resilience efforts.