How Zombies Help Siemens Design Disaster-Proof Cities

Ben Collar's job at Siemens is to figure out how to help cities design transportation systems that can move people quickly in times of emergency, whether that's a terrorist attack, a natural disaster, or Z-day...There are valuable lessons to be learned from the zombie apocalypse, though, says Siemens's Ben Collar.

Once there's no more room in hell and the dead start walking the Earth, whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. See movies such as Dawn of the Dead and World War Z. Panic ensues. The entire grid falls over. Hospitals close down. The government collapses. And pretty soon, what started with a couple of slowly shambling walkers becomes an irrepressible apocalypse of the flesh-hungry undead.

There are valuable lessons to be learned from the zombie apocalypse, though, says Siemens's Ben Collar. A global expert on city resiliency and transit efficiency, Collar's role at Siemens is to figure out how to help cities design transportation systems that can move people quickly in times of emergency, whether that's a terrorist attack, a natural disaster, or Z-Day.

A fan of AMC's The Walking Dead, Collar thinks that a theoretical zombie apocalypse is a good lens through which to look at how many of the transit systems that we take for granted can be improved. "It might seem silly to talk about how Siemens can help cities deal with zombies," admits Collar, "but you have to approach disaster planning with a level head. We do it by adding some quirky element, like Godzilla or zombies. Otherwise, it's too easy to get swept away in the reality of impending doom."...