The Historical and Ideological Chasm between Engineering and Development

Abstract

Societal well-being is increasingly impacted by the social implications of new technologies, which are beyond the expertise of the global development scholars who study and craft regulations around them. The common solution of including engineers in the policymaking process is not enough to bridge these two knowledge fields due to their conflicting historical developments and resulting epistemologies. Global development originates from rebuilding Europe after WWII and “modernizing” the recently independent countries of the Global South. After incorporating critiques, development studies have shifted away from engineering, they are largely subjective in orientation, and they focus on poverty alleviation and social inclusion. Engineering has origins in military and business operations. Heavily scientific in orientation, it tends to exclude social metrics in the design process. Transdisciplinary concepts and emergent disciplines, such as humanitarian engineering and ICT4D, offer a way forward where scholars from disparate disciplines cross over to fully appreciate the unique contributions that the other side can offer.