Routledge - Designing To Avoid Disaster Book

Explore the concept of fracture-critical design with this essential text from Routledge. Author Thomas Fisher examines how modern structures and systems often lack the necessary redundancy to prevent total failure. By analyzing high-profile catastrophes, such as the I-35W bridge collapse, the Fukushima nuclear plant devastation, and the BP oil spill, this book provides a deep look into why interconnectedness and misguided efficiency can lead to systemic collapse. Readers will learn how design choices in architecture, engineering, and even financial systems can create vulnerabilities. Whether looking at the destruction caused by earthquakes in Port au Prince or the housing foreclosure epidemic, the text explains how systems fail completely when a single component does not perform as intended. This book is a vital resource for understanding how to build more resilient structures and avoid the pitfalls of interconnected, low-redundancy design in a complex world.