Virtually all of the socio-technical systems that maintain public order, quality of life, and commerce depend on a reliable electric supply, and critical infrastructure failures such as "blackouts" have profound implications for citizens and for those who govern in their name. Social scientists have noted the impact of such failures on society, and undertake the study of crisis management to improve our knowledge of why critical systems fail and how such systems can be made more reliable. Auckland Unplugged is a major contribution to this field. Using the 1998 blackout of the central business...

Virtually all of the socio-technical systems that maintain public order, quality of life, and commerce depend on a reliable electric supply, and critical infrastructure failures such as 'blackouts' have profound implications for citizens and for those who govern in their name. Social scientists have noted the impact of such failures on society, and undertake the study of crisis management to improve our knowledge of why critical systems fail and how such systems can be made more reliable. Auckland Unplugged is a major contribution to this field. Using the 1998 blackout of the central business...