Challenges in Sustainability Engineering–Design for Whom, How and Why?

Anu RamaswamiProfessor and DirectorIGERT: Sustainable Urban InfrastructureCenter for Sustainable Infrastructure SystemsUniversity of Colorado Denver (UCD)

Principles of Sustainability Engineering There have been ongoing efforts to develop

guiding principles for sustainability engineering

Anastas, P.; Zimmerman, J. “Design through the Twelve Principles of Green Engineering,” Environmental Science and Technology, 37, 94A – 101A, 2003 Primarily design oriented

The Sandestin Declaration EPA’s Nine Principles of Green Engineering * (

http://www.epa.gov/oppt/greenengineering) *as developed by more than 65 engineers and scientists at

the Green Engineering: Defining the Principles Conference, held in Sandestin, Florida in May of 2003.

Principle 7: Develop and apply engineering solutions, while

being cognizant of local geography, aspirations, and cultures.

How do engineers “do this” and teach this to students?

How to integrate with system-wide environmental goals (resource conservation, carbon mitigation,..)

University Colorado Denver Projects Wind Generator Installation

in Tribal Village in India

Site Assessment for Water Supply project in Tribal Village

Renewable Energy Project in Tsunami impacted area of Sri Lanka

Three Questions to Ask

For whom is the project? Who sets project objectives?

Whose Knowledge Counts? How is the project implemented?

Who benefits from the project? Why is the project being done in the first place?

Who owns the project? For Whom? Often US University teams undertaking

developing community projects pose the entire community as the “owner”.

In reality, the owner and driver often are: The Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that

pose the project Priorities and Philosophies need to be understood

Important Social groups are excluded from agenda-setting Examples: Rural Women who face the actual problem

Field Installation of a Horizontal Axis Wind Generator in India

Rachel Werther and Mark PitterleMarch, 2005

Village meeting at a distance Village meeting held to assess needs

Close-up of Village Meeting Representative from each of the 12 hamlets

present at the meeting

12 Hamlet Leaders

Women Meeting After 3 days of persistence, we were finally

able to have a meeting where only women attended Women from 2 hamlets attended

Whose Knowledge Counts?

Technically-detailed devices such as wind generators need trained and educated operators This village had an

electrical engineer who led and operates the project

Such leadership is sparse (not scalable)

Village Team after Installing the Windmill

Whose knowledge on sustainability counts?

Often developing communities are far more sustainable in resource use

Developing communities often have a systems view embedded in local knowledge Care needed to integrate this local knowledge into

the “systems view” of the trained external engineer (outsider)

Learning this skill is life-long learning, takes time

Tribal Home Construction

Grain Storage

Close up of the distillery

Who benefits from the project? Impacts in the communities can be complex

Unsure if projects really benefit the sensitive populations in the long-term Example: Benefits to children in dormitory projects are at

best indirect Few community development projects conduct an end-

point impact assessment NGOs that set the agenda are often beneficiaries

International student teams benefit Hands-on experience, Education, Visibility

Sustainable Infrastructure IGERT at UCD Inter-disciplinary IGERT Program

Engineering, Planning, Public Affairs, Health & Behavioral Sciences

Sequence of Four Inter-Disciplinary Courses Intro to Sustainable Infrastructure

Integrates Technology & Social Actors Defining and Measuring Sustainability

Project based active learning with two local communities How do communities define sustainability?

Social Science Theories of Change Infrastructure & Public Health

Education: Participatory Research Techniques and Principles

From: Cornwall & Jewkes, 1995; Ramaswami et al., Environmental Science & Technology, 2007

Thank You!

www.cudenver.edu/IGERT