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Back to Management of Urban Infrastructures – part 1

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Management of Urban Infrastructures – part 1 by École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

4.7
stars
775 ratings

About the Course

Sustainability, Resilience and Efficiency are fundamental considerations for city managers in managing urban infrastructures. Today, more than 3.9 billion people, making up more than 54% of the global population, live in cities. Urbanization is expected to continue in the coming years, raising the urban population to 6.0 billion by 2045. This dramatic increase in urban populations will inevitably increase the demand for energy, mobility (transportation), water, and other urban services in every city around the world. Without functional governance and management structures that ensure efficient, resilient and sustainable performance in cities, the current urbanization growth might become a catastrophic risk threatening the quality of life of the humanity. Sustainable development in 21st century can only be realized by introducing innovations in both management and operations of urban infrastructures systems. Developing management practices that effectively integrates the processes of urban planning with urban infrastructures planning and management is a challenging goal that many cities are struggling with nowadays, but is a must for transforming cities to sustainable and resilient engines of growth in both developing and developed economies. This course will provide you with the basic principles of urban infrastructure management that are fundamental for building prosperous cities that are sustainable, resilient and efficient. In order to obtain a certificate for this course, the participants have to pass four graded quizzes and complete four mandatory assignments, plus a final exam. In addition to the graded assignments students have the option to write a 7-10 page peer-reviewed case study about management of energy OR transportation system in their city (on your own choice). The best case studies will be also evaluated by our jury at IGLUS and the authors of the 3 best case studies will win a full tuition fee waiver scholarship to enroll in the IGLUS professional training program in Spring 2017. You can also pre-enroll in our upcoming MOOC on Smart Cities now. Find our more here: http://iglus.org/smart-cities-mooc/...

Top reviews

AM

Mar 13, 2022

I really liked this course, it expanded my view on urban infrastructres and how to manage it properly. the course was a bit simple and easy to understand with allot of new and useful information.

SS

Feb 22, 2017

Very informative, well planed and presented, learned a lot and piqued and interest to continue with part 2. Thank you to the lectures and all that were involved in this course for the hard work.

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1 - 25 of 167 Reviews for Management of Urban Infrastructures – part 1

By IlyaVladimirovic

Jan 10, 2017

Wonderful course! It's simple and absolutely well and clearly explained. Summary, systematization and selection of knowledge, as well as its division into units, is flawless. I have never taken such an understandable course by such an understanding professor. Moreover, all speakers participating and the Professor himself are genuinely interested in the subject , its theorizing, and its beneficial practical applications. You can feel they care about, and demand, professional and decision maker honesty and ethics. This is what makes you love a subject. I look forward to taking Part II, though I perhaps will not manage to complete Part I in this session. Thank you very much for this course and your work!

By Ana L M d S

Jun 3, 2016

Great course! I hope the team releases the following module. The material provided is really good and the lectures are dynamic and well edited. The short answer assignment could be peer reviewed!

By Gaurav R

Jul 28, 2019

This course gives you a deep insight into Urban Infrastructure system and its management. The key challenges to operate any city are being discussed in detail. So overall good experience.

By Tyler B

Mar 26, 2017

Very cursory and doesn't get into analysis about why things are the way they are. This course just explains who the actors, their roles and environment they operate in. It would have been much more interesting and useful to learn the why.

By Dr. N F (

Jan 22, 2018

High level of quality. Scientific approach and the same time easy to understand, what a Manager of Urban Infrastructures must pay attention. Very god quality of videos and used easy to understand words.

EPFL, prof. Matthias Finger and all professors and specialists, succeeded to make this course to be a very good choice for professionals and also for people who just wanted to know by an accredited source, the main points of attention and the way infrastructures must exist, work and interconnect.

This reason I took this course is that I needed to be sure about all operations of a big city, in order to adopt these operations in my case study for emergency management of critical infrastructures, in a case of a physical catastrophe or in a human-made disasters as is a terror attack or a war.

Thank you for this wonderful course.

By Todor K

Apr 13, 2016

The course is very well-structured and informative. For me, as a specialist educated in the field of urbanism was very intriguing to get a glance of the work behind the management of the urban infrastructures as in many Masters the focus on planning and design does not cover the specifics that are revealed during these four blocks. I am really hoping that the organizers and the people from the Polytechnical University of Lausanne are going to successfully release a second part of this course. I highly recommend the course based on the fact that much useful knowledge can be learnt even for specialists, already educated in the field of urban development.

By Julia K

Sep 12, 2017

Very good course. I learnt a lot although I had only a minimal background on the subject matter. The course is not too complicated, however I felt it gave a sufficiently good introduction to all major aspects so that I can know where and what to look for personally, if needed.

The only thing I thought was missing, was peer reviews of the short question exercises - basically at this point it seems that as long as we submit a sufficient number of characters, the question is considered correct. Some peer review would have made it more interesting and challenging.

Thanks for the great course - I continued straight to part 2 - managing smart cities.

By Oscar P v T

Jun 28, 2020

Big thanks to EPFL and IGLUS for this great course. I've learned a lot and it's been arranged in a very concise lecture format while providing very useful practical insights through the expert interviews. I also liked the international case studies spanning all continents. To be improved in my opinion is the technical issue of lag in videos viewed through this coursera interface. Sometimes the performance is perfect but about 20% of the cases, it has lag of 1 to 1 related to the actual content viewed (e.g. 7 min lecture takes 14 mins to view). Thanks again.

By Naeem A S

Dec 22, 2017

First of all the course is well-structured and have briefly yet conclusively highlighted on all the problems associated with urban centers. Also the course sought to address two key components of urban infrastructure (thus energy and transportation) which was very critical. In general it was worth studying the course and I hope future course on urban infrastructure will highlight on equally important sectors such as; waste management and water supply.

By Shannon T

Aug 13, 2019

Excellent course. My one small problem with the content is that the the course is very focused on terminology and not technical skills. We learn about problems and solutions but do not receive practice in situations where we would need to apply the knowledge. However, very good course for an introduction to terminology and key components/ stakeholders/ issues relating to urban infrastructure management. (4.5/5 stars so I just give it 5)

By Aaditya D

Aug 25, 2020

This course is brilliantly explained in such a way that it teaches you how these different infrastructure and its management process is carried out. The course will teach you the depth of the managements aspects of each infrastructure systems, its coordination in proper manner. Professor Matthias Finger explained very deeply. Thank you once again for this course it allowed me to understand how a city is managed.

By Will B

Oct 25, 2016

A good introduction to urban infrastructures and management. It touches on the key issues, and gets you thinking about the interrelated challenges. The course does not go into a great amount of depth in any area in particular, but it does suggest plenty of interesting avenues for further research and investigation. Recommended.

By Ruslan M

Jul 10, 2021

Very interesting course. I passed it in order to better understand the problems of the city and, accordingly, the directions in which the city should develop in order to be "smart".

Thanks a lot to all who prepare it, thanks to coursera to provide such an opportunities for people around the World to learning!

By Alejandro M

Apr 27, 2020

I took this course because i saw it in a IWA (International Water Association) page. It was really interesting with a general view of urban infrastructure. I would like to know if there is something specific like the electricity or transportation chapters, but related with water and wastewater.

By Raphael O O

Aug 7, 2022

I recommend that planners, architects, engineers, city managers, council officials and everyone involved in city management should take this course to broaden their perspective and learn salient things that can help us all live in better environment.

By Tithi S

Jul 29, 2020

It has been a great learning experience. This learning experience was enriching to enhance the understanding about the urban infrastructure dynamics and management practices at different places across the globe along with the conceptual knowledge.

By Thenuwan J

Apr 18, 2017

Discussed about most of the elements which consist in Urban Infrastructures. The lectures are well structured and provided a holistic view to the students who are interested in this area.

Job well done! :)

Thenuwan

By Luis J

Jun 4, 2016

Really interesting course. I enjoy the lectures because they are well explained and full of important material. I recommended to anyone that have some knowledge or basic knowledge about infrastructure.

By Mihai C

Jun 7, 2021

Well structured and easy understandable information.

I am looking to enroll un MUI - part 2 course when it will be online.

Thank you Mr. Matthias Finger and your team for efforts to develop this course.

By Viacherslav M

Mar 16, 2017

Thank you.

You are super.

I would like to study your more detailed courses (in detail management, construction of infrastructures, new technologies in urban infrastructure, financing of projects, ...)

By Antoine M

Mar 14, 2022

I really liked this course, it expanded my view on urban infrastructres and how to manage it properly. the course was a bit simple and easy to understand with allot of new and useful information.

By Sam S

Feb 23, 2017

Very informative, well planed and presented, learned a lot and piqued and interest to continue with part 2. Thank you to the lectures and all that were involved in this course for the hard work.

By MUHAMMAD I B

Nov 6, 2016

An excellent course offered by the institution.I appreciate Profesor Mathias for this wonderful content.I am waiting for the next block of this MOOC. Thanks to the Coursera Team too.

By Pedro C

Aug 18, 2023

This is a great course.

Concepts, methodology and samples give it a high level study around how cities must be manage to be really samrt cities.

My Thanks to coursera and profesors

By Issa C

Mar 22, 2016

This course is great. The Professor and the guests are professionals. They went through the topics nicely. I encourage people to take this course because they can't regret it.