Skip to main content
Article
Making the Human Dimensions of Sustainable Community Development Visible to Engineers
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers (2011)
  • Juan Lucena, Colorado School of Mines
  • Jen Schneider, Colorado School of Mines
  • Jon A. Leydens, Colorado School of Mines
Abstract

Recently, engineers – particularly those working on sustainability-related initiatives – have increasingly turned their efforts towards under-served communities. This paper summarises the findings in Engineering and Sustainable Community Development (Juan Lucena et al., 2010) aimed at a diversity of these efforts which are grouped here under the term ‘engineering to help’. These initiatives often exist under names such as community service, humanitarian engineering, and engineers without borders or activities such as the Institution of Civil Engineers' co-sponsored workshop ‘Helping local communities to help themselves’. Although there has been a blossoming of engineering-to-help-related programmes around the world, there is a lack of critical reflections of engineers' involvement. The book summarised in this paper attempts to fill that void. The paper concludes with an invitation to engineers to become critically involved in the complex world of sustainable community development.

Keywords
  • developing countries,
  • sustainability,
  • education & training
Publication Date
March, 2011
Publisher Statement
This document was originally published by ICE Publishing in Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Permission is granted by ICE Publishing to print one copy for personal use. Any other use of this PDF file is subject to reprint fees. doi: 10.1680/ensu.1000014
Citation Information
Juan Lucena, Jen Schneider and Jon A. Leydens. "Making the Human Dimensions of Sustainable Community Development Visible to Engineers" Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers Vol. 164 Iss. 1 (2011)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/jen_schneider/17/