Engineering and Sustainable Community Development Copyright © 2010 by Morgan & Claypool All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher. Engineering and Sustainable Community Development Juan Lucena, Jen Schneider, and Jon A. Leydens www.morganclaypool.com ISBN: 9781608450701 paperback ISBN: 9781608450718 ebook DOI 10.2200/S00247ED1V01Y201001ETS011 A Publication in the Morgan & Claypool Publishers series SYNTHESIS LECTURES ON ENGINEERS, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY Lecture #11 Series Editor: Caroline Baillie, University of Western Australia Series ISSN Synthesis Lectures on Engineers, Technology, and Society Print 1933-3633 Electronic 1933-3461 Synthesis Lectures on Engineers,Technology, and Society Editor Caroline Baillie, University of Western Australia The mission of this lecture series is to foster an understanding for engineers and scientists on the inclusive nature of their profession.The creation and proliferation of technologies needs to be inclusive as it has effects on all of humankind, regardless of national boundaries, socio-economic status, gender, race and ethnicity,or creed.The lectures will combine expertise in sociology, political economics, philosophy of science, history, engineering, engineering education, participatory research, development studies, sustainability, psychotherapy, policy studies, and epistemology.The lectures will be relevant to all engineers practicing in all parts of the world. Although written for practicing engineers and human resource trainers, it is expected that engineering, science and social science faculty in universities will find these publications an invaluable resource for students in the classroom and for further research.The goal of the series is to provide a platform for the publication of important and sometimes controversial lectures which will encourage discussion, reflection and further understanding. The series editor will invite authors and encourage experts to recommend authors to write on a wide array of topics, focusing on the cause and effect relationships between engineers and technology, technologies and society and of society on technology and engineers.Topics will include,but are not limited to the following general areas; History of Engineering, Politics and the Engineer, Economics , Social Issues and Ethics, Women in Engineering, Creativity and Innovation, Knowledge Networks, Styles of Organization, Environmental Issues, Appropriate Technology. Engineering and Sustainable Community Development Juan Lucena, Jen Schneider, and Jon A. Leydens 2010 Engineering and Society: WorkingTowards Social Justice,Part I: Engineering and Society Caroline Baillie and George Catalano 2009 Engineering and Society: WorkingTowards Social Justice, Part II: Decisions in the 21st Century George Catalano and Caroline Baillie 2009 iv Engineering and Society: Working Towards Social Justice, Part III: Windows on Society Caroline Baillie and George Catalano 2009 Engineering: Women and Leadership Corri Zoli, Shobha Bhatia, Valerie Davidson, and Kelly Rusch 2008 Bridging the Gap Between Engineering and the Global World: A Case Study of the Coconut (Coir) Fiber Industry in Kerala, India Shobha K. Bhatia and Jennifer L. Smith 2008 Engineering and Social Justice Donna Riley 2008 Engineering, Poverty, and the Earth George D. Catalano 2007 Engineers within a Local and Global Society Caroline Baillie 2006 Globalization, Engineering, and Creativity John Reader 2006 Engineering Ethics: Peace, Justice, and the Earth George D. Catalano 2006 Engineering and Sustainable Community Development Juan Lucena, Jen Schneider, and Jon A. Leydens Colorado School of Mines SYNTHESIS LECTURES ON ENGINEERS, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY #11 &MC Morgan& cLaypool publishers ABSTRACT This book,Engineering and Sustainable Community Development,presents an overview of engineering as it relates to humanitarian engineering, service learning engineering, or engineering for community development, often called sustainable community development (SCD). The topics covered include a history of engineers and development, the problems of using industry-based practices when de- signing for communities, how engineers can prepare to work with communities, and listening in community development. It also includes two case studies—one of engineers developing a windmill for a community in India, and a second of an engineer “mapping communities” in Honduras to em- power people to use water effectively—and student perspectives and experiences on one curricular model dealing with community development. KEYWORDS humanitarian engineering, sustainable engineering, service learning engineering, en- gineering for community development, sustainable community development (SCD), Engineers Without Borders (EWB), appropriate technology, social justice, interna- tional engineering vii Contents Preface .....................................................................xiii 1 Introduction .................................................................1 1.1 Engineers as Problem Solvers ................................................1 1.2 Engineers’ Beliefs About Community Development............................2 1.3 Engineers, Development, and Community ....................................3 1.4 What Makes this Book Different? ............................................6 1.5 Who is this Book for? .......................................................8 1.6 Brief Outline of the Book ..................................................11 References ..................................................................12 2 Engineers and Development: From Empires to Sustainable Development . .13 2.1 Engineers and the Development of Empires (18th and 19th Centuries) . 13 2.2 Engineers and National Development (19th to 20th Centuries) . 15 2.3 Engineers and International Development (20th Century) .....................19 2.4 Engineers and the Questioning of Technology (the 1970s).....................27 2.5 Engineers and the “Lost Decade of Development” (the 1980s) . 31 2.6 Engineers Move Toward Sustainable Development (1980s-1990s) . 33 2.7 Engineers Heed the Call to Sustainable Development (late 1990s-present) . 36 2.8 The Explosion of “Engineering to Help” (ETH) Activities (2000-Present) . 39 2.9 The Emergence of Community in Sustainable Development and ETH Initiatives .................................................................41 2.10 Summary1 ................................................................44 References ..................................................................46 3 Why Design for Industry Will Not Work as Design for Community . 55 viii 3.1 Introduction ..............................................................55 3.2 One Design Project: Description and Reflection ..............................57 3.3 Design Courses and Design Instruction ......................................65 3.3.1 Syllabus 65 3.3.2 Objectives 66 3.3.3 Constraints 66 3.3.4 Expectations from Students 69 3.4 Course Content ...........................................................71 3.4.1 Design Process 71 3.4.2 Leadership and Teamwork Dynamics 73 3.4.3 Design Tools and Approaches 74 3.5 The Actual Course ........................................................75 3.5.1 Location 75 3.5.2 Course Practices 76 3.5.3 Teamwork 78 3.6 The Written Report .......................................................79 3.7 The Final Presentation .....................................................80 3.8 Conclusions: What Can You Do? ...........................................81 References ..................................................................82 4 Engineering with Community................................................85 4.1 What we Mean by “Community” ...........................................86 4.1.1 How one Engineer Views Community 87 4.2 Challenge #1: Engineering Problem-Solving (EPS) ...........................91 4.3 Challenge #2: Engineering Mindsets ........................................94 4.4 Challenge #3: Community Development Projects .............................99 4.5 Challenge #4: Engineers’ Belief in Development .............................103 4.6 From Engineering for Development to ESCD ..............................104 4.6.1 The Importance of Self-Reflection 107 4.6.2 Learn About the Community 108 ix 4.6.3 Figure out Ways the Time-Scale of your Project can be Expanded 111 4.6.4 Make Plans for “Failure” 111 4.6.5 Design a Landing Pad 111 4.6.6 Develop Meaningful Assessments of Yourself and Your Project 112 4.7 Conclusion ..............................................................113 References .................................................................113 5 Listening to Community ...................................................117 5.1 Listening in Big Development: The El Cajón Dam Case . 118 5.2 Listening in Little Development: Brick Making Kilns in Peshawar, Pakistan . 121 5.3 Where is Listening in Engineering Education? ..............................123 5.4 What is Contextual Listening?.............................................124 5.5 Dimensions of Contextual Listening .......................................126 5.6 Barriers to Contextual Listening ...........................................134 5.6.1 Engineering Problem Solving 134 5.6.2 Engineering Design 136 5.7 Benefits of Contextual Listening