Designs on development: engineering, globalization, and social justice

TLDR: In this article, the authors present a case study approach to evaluate engineering-for-development (E2D) initiatives and find that many of them share problematic assumptions about technology's role in community development.

Abstract: This article critically appraises ‘engineering for development’ initiatives and seeks to imagine new models of interaction that incorporate social justice goals more effectively. In recent years, interest in engineering for development has surged within engineering communities in the US and around the world. While worthy of recognition and praise for directing engineers' attention to the problems arising from global economic inequity, many engineering-for-development programs share problematic assumptions about technology's role in community development and fail to grapple with the economic and cultural structures that direct (implicitly or explicitly) most development interventions. Using a case study approach, this article draws out some of these assumptions and shows how they impede the achievement of social justice goals – both in the context of specific development interventions as well as in the context of engineering as a professional activity. The first of two cases involves an interdisciplinary c...