Engineering for Sustainable Human Development, by Amadei, B, (ASCE Press, 2014). In this book, Bernard Amadei addresses the role of engineering in poverty reduction and human development. He introduces a framework to help engineers conduct small-scale projects in communities vulnerable to the consequences of a wide range of adverse events. His framework combines concepts and tools traditionally used by development agencies with techniques from engineering project management and systems thinking…

A Systems Approach to Modeling Community Development Projects, by Amadei, B. (Momentum Press, 2015). This book introduces the reader to systems thinking and demonstrates how system dynamics tools (one of the many traditions in system science) can be used in the design and planning of engineering solutions in small-scale community development projects. A systems approach to community development projects requires development practitioners to operate in unpredictable and complex environments.

A Systems Approach to Modeling the Water-Energy-Land-Food Nexus, Vols. I and II,  by Amadei, B. (Momentum Press, 2019).
This two-volume book describes a flexible and adaptive system-based methodology and associated guidelines for managing and allocating community-based WELF resources. Volume 1 reviews the existing literature about the nexus and focuses on defining the landscape in which it operates. The proposed methodology is also outlined. Volume 2 explores the quantitative and qualitative modeling of the nexus and landscape using system modeling tools, including system dynamics. It presents a road map for the formulation, simulation, selection, and ranking of possible interventions and the development of possible intervention plans.

Navigating the complexity across the peace-sustainability-climate security nexus, by Amadei, B. (Routledge, 2023). This book makes a case for using an integrated, coherent, and multisolving approach to address human development and security issues. It explores, more specifically, the underlying dynamic across the peace-sustainability-climate security triple nexus at the community scale. Peace, sustainability, and climate security are modeled as entangled states (or cultures) that emerge from the interactions of shared community systems subject to various constraints, barriers, and adverse events. The three states and the community systems influence each other, are interdependent, and are mutually reinforcing. Their coherence is better captured using a systems approach rather than considering them in isolation. To do so, decision-makers involved in community development must be able and willing to make decisions in complex, ambiguous, and uncertain community environments with a system lens that embraces complexity rather than organized simplicity.

Engineering for Peace and Diplomacy, by Amadei, B. (Stanford Publ. Pte Ltd., 2025). This book makes a compelling argument for the role of the engineering profession in advancing human development and security and its contribution to various peacebuilding and diplomatic efforts in the 21st-century world. How do engineers collaborate with other disciplines to deliver interventions contributing to peacebuilding and diplomatic efforts in conflict-affected, conflict-sensitive, and fragile community environments? How should engineers be trained in lifelong practice to do so? What principles should the engineering profession uphold when participating in peacebuilding and diplomatic initiatives? How does the engineering profession serve the local and global public good?

Sustainable Wastewater Management in Developing Countries: New Paradigms and Case Studies from the Field, by Carsten Laugesen, Ole Fryd, Hans Brix, and Thammarat Koottatep (ASCE Press, 2010). Draws upon the authors’ experiences in Malaysia, Thailand, and other countries to examine the failures of traditional planning, design, and implementation, and to offer localized solutions that will yield effective sustainable management systems.

Sustainable Engineering Practice: An Introduction, by the Committee on Sustainability. (ASCE Technical Report, 2004). Provides a broad, fundamental understanding of sustainability principles and their application to engineering work.