Volume 1: Chapter 11
- Unum Necessarium
- Selection Results
- About IAMES
The One Necessity Of Our Time
In Building The World, a large number of iconic macro-engineering projects are presented to the reader. One of our goals in writing Building The World is to provide accumulated knowledge on past projects as precedents for the powerful opportunities offered by macro-engineering to transform and improve our future - in essence, building for the future. With this in mind, we would like encourage participation in our following survey.
Which one project do you believe is the single critical initiative that our world should make the unum necessarium - the one necessity - of our time? The International Association of Macro Engineering Societies pioneered, developed, and refined the following list of macro-engineering projects presented for your evaluation. Please select one entry and explain why you believe this initiative is the critical one. If you wish, you may also complete the optional demographic data.
All results will be completely confidential, and you do not need to give your name or any other personal data. Read our privacy policy. Of course, if you wish to send a personal statement, that would be welcomed. However, results will be tallied and reported only in the aggregate.
- Dr. Andrew C. Lemer, current President of The American Society for Macro Engineering (TASME), defines the field as follows:
- Macro-engineering is the study and practice of planning, implementation, and management of large-scale initiatives and associated complex socio-technical systems. These large-scale initiatives are increasingly pervasive in our society and fraught with challenges. These initiatives characteristically are:
- very costly
- entail long-term commitments by both private- and public-sector entities
- cross many institutional and jurisdictional boundaries
- pose significant technical and financial risks
- successful accomplishment stretches our management capabilities
- failure can have broad and lasting social, environmental, and financial consequences
- All results will be completely confidential, and you do not need to give your name or any other personal data. Of course, if you wish to send a personal statement, that would be welcomed. However, results will be tallied and reported only in the aggregate.