Bridging technical, ecological and social-economic knowledge in engineering design

Sustainable engineering design requires the joint consideration of technical, ecological, economic and social aspects in the provision of societal demands, such as water and energy supply. A growing number of concepts and methods for integrated assessment and sustainable design have been developed in recent decades, and pose new challenges to the engineering profession. This article proposes the use of systems design concepts and methods to link engineering design to ecological and social-economic knowledge. This study expands the conventional functional analysis approach from systems engineering with a technical focus toward a more integrated perspective that allows for the joint consideration of technical, ecological and social-economic solutions in engineering design. Participatory systems thinking and system dynamics modelling are used for conceptual and preliminary system design by analysing the hierarchy and flows of functions to meet system requirements. The methodology consists of three steps: requirements analysis (Step 1), functional organisation analysis (Step 2) and functional flow analysis (Step 3). An application of the methodology is provided using sustainable water management in Cyprus as an example. The results demonstrate the synergies and trade-offs between technical, ecological and social solutions in water management that provide important information for the subsequent detailed system design phase.