Category: Engineering (old category)Page 1 of 2

Three ideas for bearing witness to the climate emergency

A year on from declarations of climate emergency in the construction industry I am looking for ways to carry on emphasising the scale of the problem and the…

Apollo 8 | What do you do with your computer?

I’ve been listening the BBC World Service’s podcast ’13 Minutes to the Moon’ about the Apollo space programme. Last night I listened to the episode about Apollo 8,…

#16 Bengt Cousins-Jenvey – How to save a million tonnes of carbon – shownotes

Bengt is a consultant and ‘re-designer’, working in sustainability and circular design in the built environment. This year we are working together to create training in response to…

The Lighthouse: film review + engineering notes

I just went to see The Lighthouse, an enjoyably gothic story of the descent into madness of two lighthouse keepers. I loved the visual design of this film…

Clash of the sign writers

In praise of Aix-en-Provence TGV

I am speeding north on a train from Aix-en-Provence TGV and reflecting on what it is I like so much about this station. It sits on the southern…

On traffic

Drivers, please don’t complain about the traffic: you are the traffic Broadbent, O. (2019). Internal monologue everytime I hear a driver complain about the traffic. Bristol.

Performance versus reflection

A key part of problem-based learning is reflection. But how do you get people not interested in reflection to start thinking critically about the decisions they take over…

The end of trying harder and being nicer

Over the last few weeks I’ve been talking to engineers about they can do in response to the climate emergency. For those that are engaged with the topic,…

A reminder about the imminent climate catastrophe and how we should educate engineers to prepare for it

[The following text is adapted from the after-dinner speech I gave at the University of Edinburgh Engineering Faculty’s away day. It was originally titled ‘How problem-based learning can…

Parenting x inspecting hydraulic structures in the Frome Valley

[Written in May, posted today] Saturday was the chance for my one of my favourite kinds of parenting: the kind where I can go on a journey with…

Climate breakdown – uncivil engineering questions

At the start of the summer I felt that the best contribution I could make to tackling the climate emergency was to offer my skills as a trainer…

Appreciating concrete in Marseille

One of the thing things that I like about Marseille is the quality of the concrete tower block design. I’ve been riding in taxis back and forth across…

Transformative infrastructure goes both ways

Marseille In my previous post I was talking about the experience of distance, and how, when understood as an experience, distance is no longer a fixed entity. That…

#13 Show-notes – Forth Bridge – An Engineering Detour

An engineering detour is something engineers do when they go out of their way, usually on holiday, to go and check out a piece of engineering infrastructure. In…

Coventry Cathederal

A quick engineering detour to check out the impressive interior of Coventry Cathederal.

Notes from ISEE 2018, UCL London

A very interesting couple of days at the 7th International Symposium of Engineering Education down at UCL. Here’s something I found interesting which I am sharing with colleagues…

We are engineers, what are we doing?

Irrigation reservoirs/ocean plastic cleanup robot/fingerprint recognition keyfinder/light-up bicycle/anti-drinkdrive steering/air-conditioned tie/plant-based academic gradebooster… a maelstrom technology, ideas and solutions proposed by school children who made the final of the…

My neighbours don’t like bees

We planted a hedge of lavender on our estate to revitalise a barren patch of soil near our front door. This sunny morning, the enthusastic lavender stems were…

Circling the square – psychogeography in the City

Last night I have a talk at the first ever City of London Showoff called Circling the Square. The event was put on by the City Centre, a…

My VR training epiphany

Last week I was down at Bridgwater and Taunton College to check out the tools Stefan Cecchini and his colleagues are going to be using to deliver a…

#12 Show-notes – Roma Agrawal: how to build a skyscraper

In this episode I bring you a step-by-step guide on how to build a skyscraper with structural engineer Roma Agrawal (@RomaTheEngineer), author of ‘Built, the Hidden Stories Behind our…

#9: Engineering transport in San Francisco with Andrew Kosinski

I can’t think of metropolitan landscape that offers more varied and exciting opportunities for designing transport infrastructure than San Francisco, with its steep hills, its bay, its rapidly…

Defending New York with Oyters

I really enjoyed listening to this 99 Percent Invisible podcast called ‘Oyster-tecture‘, which explains how, in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the city is developing artificial reefs on…

Surface travel – Münster to London

Overview Six trains and one monorail Leisure 709km £130 Today I take my journey home from Münster to London via a different route from my way out. Outbound…

Surface travel – London to Münster, Westfalia

Overview London – Harwich – Hook of Holland – Den Haag – Enschede – Münster Six trains, two buses and a ferry. Leisure 365 miles. £90. When I…

Eiffelovercast #6 – Riding the Northern Line Ghost Train

In this episode of the podcast I attempt a sonic recreation of a part of the London Underground that never got built, a stretch of the Northern Line…

Eiffelovercast #4 – Crossing France very very fast: a paean to TGVs

Ever since I saw my first one zoom past as a boy I’ve loved TGVs. In January I travelled from one side of France to the other and…

Eiffelovercast #3 – Andrew Scoones – is there is such a thing as engineering culture?

We are trying to define the heritage of the future – the creativity and ideas in engineering that people will look back on – Andrew Scoones Andrew Scoones…

Pre-stressed concrete: lessons for swing dancers

Recently in beginner’s swing dancing classes I’ve described the connection between lead and follow when dancing side-by-side Charleston as being a bit like how pre-stressed concrete works. I…