Engineering Engagement

Sarah Bell, Andrew Chilvers and Tania Cobham

UCL and Arup

fPET 2010

Golden, Colorado

Engineering Engagement

• Three engineers• Questions about our profession and practice• Looking for answers in theory• Gaps to be filled

Three Engineers

• Environmental Engineers• Sarah Bell

– academic

• Tania Cobham– consultant

• Andrew Chilvers– graduate

Tania

Andrew

Sarah

Engineering Engagement

• 4 year Engineering Doctorate Project• Sponsored by Arup• The role of values in engineering practice

Naïve Questioning

Our Questions

1. Am I really an engineer?2. What are the limits to engineering?3. Is engineering political?4. Who sets the engineering agenda?5. Can engineers opt out?6. What are the impacts of our work?7. Is design creative or mechanistic?8. What is missing from engineering practice?

What have the philosophers ever done for us?

Our Questions

1. Am I really an engineer?2. What are the limits to engineering?3. Is engineering political?4. Who sets the engineering agenda?5. Can engineers opt out?6. What are the impacts of our work?7. Is design creative or mechanistic?8. What is missing from engineering practice?

Who sets the engineering agenda?

• Social construction of technology

• Critical theory• Engineering ethics• New modes of agenda setting

– Participatory methods– Deliberation– Technology assessment

Who sets the engineering agenda?

• So what can we do?• What about everyday, mundane engineering

practice?• What about the engineering-policy interface?• When do engineers set the agenda?

What are the impacts of our work?

• Philosophy of technology• Actor-Network Theory• Co-production of society and

technology• Technology assessment

What are the impacts of our work?

• What about engineering that is not about producing technology or artefacts?– Planning– Management– Decision making– Policy– Consulting and advice

Is design mechanistic or creative?

• Engineering method• Standardisation• User centred design• Innovation literature• Engineering ethnography• Typologies of philosophies of

technology

Is design mechanistic or creative?

• Are there typologies of engineering philosophies?• Are there philosophical typologies of engineers?• How does the context of design shape creativity?• When is creativity required in engineering?• How does the character of the engineer influence

creativity and design?

What is missing from engineering practice?

• Participation– User led research and

design

• Citizen science• Appropriate technology

movement

What is missing from engineering practice?

• What happens when engineers transgress professional boundaries to achieve outcomes?– Do they return to simply legitimate their practice?

• What about grass-roots and ‘barefoot’ engineers? • Where is humanity in engineering?

– Do engineers need more empathy?

Engineering Engagement

• Theoretical foundations– Philosophies of technology and engineering– SCOT, ANT, ethnographies

• Gaps– Focus on engineers, not artefacts– Everyday engineering, not controversies or big toys– Barefoot, unconventional engineers