Engineering: issues, challenges and opportunities for development ...

ENGINEERING: ISSUES CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEVELOPMENTThe development and application of knowledge in engineeringand technology underpins and drives sustainablesocial and economic development. Engineering and technologyare vital in addressing basic human needs, povertyreduction and sustainable development, and to bridge the‘knowledge divide’. This chapter focuses on the vital role ofengineering and innovation in human, social and economicdevelopment. It includes a very short history of engineering,referring particularly to engineering education and how thehistory of engineering has affected its future. The history ofengineering at UNESCO discusses how the engineering sciencesprogramme was once the largest activity in the NaturalSciences Sector at UNESCO, but declined with the rise ofthe environmental sciences, and is now hopefully poised fora resurgence in recognition of the importance of engineeringas a core and underpinning an area of knowledge applicationand innovation in such areas as climate change mitigation andadaptation. This chapter includes sections on engineering,technology and society, engineers and their social responsibilityin such areas as military technology and pollution on theone hand, and the design and construction of environmentallysustainable infrastructure, living and working spaces onthe other, as well as the broader corporate social responsibilityof engineers and engineering.2.1Tony MarjoramHistory of engineering; engineering at UNESCOFigure 1: Waves of InnovationInnovation1st waveIronWater powerMechanisationTextilesCommerce2.1.1 A very short history ofengineeringThe history of engineering in the context of the way we live,and interact with nature and each other is very much thehistory and pre-history of humanity itself. Human beings arepartly defined as tool designers and users, and it is this innovationand the design and use of tools that accounts for somuch of the direction and pace of change of history. Most ofthe broader history of civilization, of economic and social relations,is also the history of engineering, engineering applicationsand innovation. The Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age,2nd waveSteam powerRailroadSteelCotton3rd waveElectricityChemicalsInternalcombustionengine4th wavePetrochemicalsElectronicsAviationSpace5th waveDigital NetworksBiotechnologySoftwareInformationtechnology6th waveSustainabilityRadical resourceproductivityWhole system designBiomimicryGreen chemistryIndustrial ecologyRenewable energyGreennanotechnology© The Natural Edge Project 20041785 1845 1900 1950 1990 2020Steam Age and Information Age all relate to engineering andinnovation shaping our interaction with the world; ‘the StoneAge did not end because we ran out of stones!’ The Pyramids,Borobudur, El Mirador, the civilizations linked to metal smeltingat Zimbabwe and water engineering at Angkor, the medievalcathedrals and Industrial Revolution are all testament tothe engineering skills of past generations. Engineering is alsovital in the surveying and conservation of our cultural heritage;the famous work of UNESCO in conserving Borobudur andAbu Simbel were essentially engineering projects.The history of engineering as a profession, where paymentis made in cash or kind for services, began with tool- andweapon-making over 150,000 years ago – indicating that engineeringis one of the oldest professions. Military engineeringwas soon joined by civil engineering in the quest for defenceand development of early infrastructure. The professionalizationof engineering is illustrated by Imhotep who built the StepPyramid at Saqqara in 3000 BC and was one of the few commonermortals to be accorded divine status after his death.Engineering professionalization continued with the developmentof craft and guild knowledge, and the formalization ofassociated knowledge and education. Simple patriarchal formsof engineering education existing in ancient societies developedinto vocational technical schools of different types in theMiddle Ages and particularly during the Renaissance and theScientific Revolution of the sixteenth and seventeeth centuries.Leonardo da Vinci, for example, had the official title of IngegnereGenerale and his notebooks reveal an increasing engineeringinterest in how things worked. Galileo Galilei developedthe scientific approach and method to the understanding ofthe natural world and analysis of practical problems – a landmarkin the development of engineering, mathematical representation,structural analysis and design that continued into30