Humanitarian Engineering Research Articles

Community-Based Participatory Workshop on Recycling Construction and Demolition Waste for the Empowerment of Women and Low-Income Communities in Colombia

This case study presents a community-based, integrated solution to mitigate the environmental impacts of construction and demolition waste (C&DW) as well as empower women and low-income communities in Colombia to find decent and safe work by gaining skills in extracting value from what is traditionally seen as waste. Utilizing a primarily qualitative, participatory mixed method approach to understand the neglected knowledge, expertise, and goals of a low-income community as well as the complex systems that shape their lives, this case study presents a humanitarian engineering project aimed at collaborating with women in low-income communities in Colombia to manage and extract value from C&DW. The objective of this investigation is to connect C&DW management, empowerment, and sustainable community development by utilizing a participatory, community-based workshop. This study is significant as it depicts an inclusive urban mining project with the aim of contributing to sustainable community development methods in community-based engineering projects. Furthermore, this study also contributes to the study of women’s empowerment approaches by demonstrating the use of contextually situated empowerment approaches. Ultimately, although not conclusive, this study is offered as an example of an inclusive urban mining, community-based project, with the hope that it may inform future efforts of this type and promote interdisciplinary collaboration aimed at C&DW management for the empowerment of communities.

Sustainability criteria for introducing new technologies in low-income contexts

AbstractIntroducing new technologies in low-income contexts have potential for positive social impact, and such efforts are made by humanitarian engineering non-govermental organisations (NGOs). The impact can increase if a systemic sustainability perspective is considered in the design process. Sustainability criteria are identified using a literature study combined with an empirical study together with a Swedish NGO. These criteria are synthesized into a simplified Sustainability Fingerprint tool which is evaluated and deemed to be useful when introducing new technologies in low-income contexts.

Design guidelines for HAWT / VAWT decision-making in the context of underserved communities

Underserved communities in rural areas often lack access to appropriate technologies that provide sustainable and reliable energy sources vital to their well-being and economic activities. In this context, the potential of small-scale wind turbine generators (WTGs) as a renewable energy source is investigated, as they can provide enough energy while being relatively easy to operate and maintain. Nevertheless, limited research is carried out about the comparative advantages of vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) and horizontal axis wind turbines (HAWTs) for these resource-limited conditions. The research approach includes a literature review, a field study in Kenya, and a multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) tailored to local wind conditions and humanitarian engineering design principles. Structural, operational, and performance differences between HAWTs and VAWTs are explored as well as the local needs of underserved communities. The MCDA results highlight design principles for the deployment of small wind turbines in rural areas and provide useful design guidelines for WTG development in underserved regions.

Embedding a strengths-based approach in humanitarian engineering research through reflexive practice

Strengths-based approaches (SBAs) aim to empower communities, ensuring community assets are acknowledged and embraced. We embarked on a process to embed an SBA in ourselves as humanitarian engineering researchers. Through a process of collaborative reflexive practice, we discussed themes of engineering identity and problem-solving mentalities, power dynamics across a research process, theories for humanitarian engineering research, deficit terminology, and more. SBA tools and activities aided our process, allowing us to trial practical applications of an SBA across a research process. Through our journeys, we explored the empowering and transformational qualities of SBAs, which present in this paper. We emphasise that SBAs should not be seen as toolbox approaches, but rather as a philosophy that can be incorporated on both professional and personal levels. We present our model for embedding an SBA through reflexive practice, and we encourage others to consider the potential, and the importance, or both reflexivity and SBAs.

Integrated Operation Centers in Smart Cities: A Humanitarian Engineering Perspective

The United Nations predicted that 68% of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050. Currently, the resources in urban areas are barely enough to cater to the inhabitants’ needs. Scientists believe that automation is the solution. Hence, they believe that Smart Cities could offer a sustainable solution for the increasing rural-to-urban migration because they improve the quality of service by efficiently managing the limited resources the citizens share. However, community laws stipulate when and who governs the cities. These officials are responsible for decision making, which limits the quality of automation and smartness of the city. Integrated Operation Centers (IOCs) help to minimize this limitation. They gather information, process it, and visualize it for the managers. Thus, IOCs enable them to make informed and quick decisions on critical issues. This paper processed 64 conferences and journals on IOCs using the PRISMA method. The systematic literature review investigates the applications of IOCs, and we present a taxonomy for them. Also, we looked at how they impact humanity and environmental sustainability. We found that IOCs help to coordinate automation, disaster response, and security. They also help to conserve natural resources. Finally, we uncover some challenges of implementing IOCs and possible research directions.

Advancing Sustainable Development: Emerging Factors and Futures for the Engineering Field

This study set out to identify emerging trends in advancing engineering for sustainable development, supporting the engineering workforce to address wicked problems, and strengthening pathways between engineering education, industry, and policy. The following question guided this work: What are the emerging factors impacting the future of global sustainability efforts within engineering, and how can these be amplified to increase the impact of engineering for sustainable development? Using an adapted Delphi method with surveys, focus groups, and member-checking interviews, we hosted the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) 2022 Engineering Global Development (EGD) Stakeholder Summit. The summit convened industry leaders, innovators, and academics to explore emerging factors impacting the future of global sustainability efforts in engineering. This manuscript synthesizes emerging trends and proposes recommendations for engineering, particularly in the specific focus area of engineering for sustainable development (e.g., ‘humanitarian engineering’, ‘global engineering’). Critical recommendations include the adoption of emerging cultural mindsets, which include: (1) take an interdisciplinary and multi-stakeholder approach, (2) consider dynamic and interconnected systems, (3) increase humility and intercultural competence, (4) prioritize diversity and inclusion, (5) increase localization and center community perspectives, (6) challenge the perception that engineering is neutral, and (7) broaden the goals of engineering. Ultimately, this study highlights pathways forward for the broader engineering community to more effectively contribute to advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Designing a problem analysis toolkit in the context of humanitarian engineering

Humanitarian Engineering and intercultural sustainability projects involve parties who are situated in very different ethnic contexts. Because the stakeholders have varying knowledge bases and access to resources and values, it is important to approach and start projects without assuming the problem. Broadly speaking, the aim is to tackle humanitarian challenges, but the underlying factors influencing the issues are not always clear. The paper aims to offer an effective tool for engineers to be aware of intercultural differences and accommodate this in the problem definition phase. Firstly, the necessary social, cultural and technological dimensions for developing a problem exploration and definition toolkit in the context of humanitarian engineering will be described. Secondly, the potential relationships that affect the outcomes of a problem analysis toolkit are uncovered. These influencing factors address themes such as intercultural context, sustainability and knowledge sharing, each with positive and negative impacts on the toolkit. Finally, a first layout of the problem analysis toolkit that includes, higher community engagement, better-tailored educational opportunities and relevant socio-technical solutions is presented and discussed.

Fostering ethical awareness and social responsibility in civil engineering education: The role of Humanitarian Engineering programs

Fostering ethical awareness and social responsibility in civil engineering education: The role of Humanitarian Engineering programs

Tackling the COVID-19 infodemic among Syrian refugees in Lebanon: Development and evaluation of the "Wikaytek" tool.

The COVID-19 infodemic has been a global public health challenge, especially affecting vulnerable populations such as Syrian refugees with limited internet access and functional, health, digital, and media literacies. To address this problem, we developed Wikaytek, a software to diffuse reliable COVID-19 information using WhatsApp, the preferred communication channel among Syrian refugees. In this paper, we describe the systematic development of the tool. We undertook a pilot study guided by the Humanitarian Engineering Initiative (HEI)'s user-centered design framework, comprising five stages: (a) user research, including needs assessment and desk review of interventions with target users; (b) concept design based on platform and source selection, message format, concept testing, and architecture design; (c) prototyping and implementation, encompassing software development and system operation; (d) user testing (alpha and beta); and (e) evaluation through software analytics and user interviews. We reported a qualitative process evaluation. Wikaytek scrapes validated and reliable COVID-19-related information from reputable sources on Twitter, automatically translates it into Arabic, attaches relevant media (images/video), and generates an audio format using Google text-to-speech. Then, messages are broadcast to WhatsApp. Our evaluation shows that users appreciate receiving "push" information from reliable sources they can trust and prefer the audio format over text. Wikaytek is a useful and well-received software for diffusing credible information on COVID-19 among Syrian refugees with limited literacy, as it complements the texts with audio messages. The tool can be adapted to diffuse messages about other public health issues among vulnerable communities, extending its scope and reach in humanitarian settings.

Humanitarian Engineering for Renewable Energy and Flood Early Warning in Remote Communities: A Scoping Review of Enabling Factors and Sustainability

Humanitarian Engineering for Renewable Energy and Flood Early Warning in Remote Communities: A Scoping Review of Enabling Factors and Sustainability

Validating the Civic-Minded Graduate Scale in Engineering Education Using Mixed Methods

Civic-mindedness is a central aim of higher education, but strategies for assessing civic-mindedness in engineering education are limited. Thus, engineering educators must build on strategies employed across higher education while ensuring these strategies are transferable to the engineering context. This study continues ongoing validation work of the Civic-Minded Graduate Scale in engineering by using mixed methods to pursue multiple forms of validity evidence. We collected, analyzed, and triangulated findings from first-year engineering students using 419 survey responses and 11 semi-structured interviews. We integrated quantitative and qualitative data to evaluate how the five constructs of the Civic-Minded Graduate Scale represent engineering students’ civic-mindedness and manifest in engineering students’ perceptions of the engineering profession. We align our data with existing engineering education research, particularly in the domains of ethics, humanitarian engineering, and professional skills development. We close with implications for teaching and assessing civic-mindedness within and outside of engineering education.

From Theory to Practice: A review of co-design methods for humanitarian energy ecosystems

Our planet is currently in the midst of a global humanitarian crisis. Yet, there is a widening gap between over 80 million displaced people and the political will to meet their needs. Improving energy access in the displaced setting to build capacity and resilience requires meaningful integration of the needs of communities throughout the design, delivery and evaluation process within the socio-technical energy system. This paper aims to explore the ways in which co-design is conceptualised and applied, from an interdisciplinary perspective, within the socio-technical framing. We do this by first conducting a rapid review of relevant co-design literature to understand theories, typologies and identify methods of best co-design practice in the Humanitarian Energy sector. Second, we present the Humanitarian Engineering and Energy for Displacement project as a co-design case study for Humanitarian Energy using Technology Implementation Model for Energy (TIME) as a framework for analysis.Our rapid review resulted in the typology of the Spectrum of Co-Design, a mapping of differing conceptualisations of co-design showing their positioning and interactions. Our results show that by exploring if and how conceptual frameworks, such as TIME, adds value to practitioner orientated humanitarian programming this can make a significant contribution to future proofing energy systems that seek to deliver inclusive, sustainable and just transitions. We highlight specific learnings from HEED around the disconnection between perceptions of key stakeholder roles, misunderstandings of energy access and use, and building trusting partnerships through the creation of meaningful rectification pathways.

Flood and Renewable Energy Humanitarian Engineering Research: Lessons from Aggitis, Greece and Dhuskun, Nepal

Climate and energy crises are increasing worldwide. Community-led humanitarian engineering interventions for localized sustainable development and disaster resilience could support populations at risk. This article presents findings from a study that investigated flood response and energy needs of two riparian communities in Greece and Nepal. The findings indicate that the co-development of a hybrid unit for hydropower generation and flood warning is most preferred. This prototype could find applications in different riparian areas as either a main or supplementary system.

The Peugeot Center Model and Mentoring Explored through a Case Study of the Design and Installation of a Potable Water System in Guatemala with ADICAY

At the Peugeot Center for Engineering Service in Developing Communities at Lipscomb University, seventeen years of experience have provided the foundation for a program that creates lasting impact. In comparison to other service learning or humanitarian engineering programs, the Peugeot Center is unique in that it achieves substantial impact on students, communities, and engineering professionals. […]

Modeling Humanizing Education Through Newly Reviewed Materials Engineering Curriculum

In line with the current global focus on sustainability and the well-being of the planet, becoming a professional engineer nowadays requires more than simple mastery of technical skills. Considering that engineers are required to have a deep sense of responsibility not only for humankind but also for the environment, engineering education and practices must be reformed substantially to prepare engineers that will contribute to sustainable development. This necessitates updating conventional engineering programs (CEE) to incorporate Humanizing Engineering Education (HEE). Although HEE is an old practice of individual engineers and other organizations outside the academic field, it is relatively new in academic engineering. While the definition of what truly merits being considered HEE remains debatable, many engineers believe that their work involves a humanitarian aspect. To streamline the development of HEE, there is a need for developing guidelines and frameworks for a comprehensive model. Ideally, that framework should integrate humanizing pedagogy in the new curriculum design. The objective of the paper is to share the experience of the authors in designing a new curriculum for a Materials Engineering Programme (MEP) that is embedded with Humanitarian Engineering (HE), which is among the main elements of HEE. Data collection was through interviews, qualitative surveys, reports from the stakeholders, accreditation bodies and benchmarking with other Higher Learning Institutions (HLI). An extensive scholarly literature review was executed to identify shortcomings in CEE and how it could be reformed by integrating it with HEE. The Sejahtera Academic Framework (SAF); a strategic framework for academic programmes developed by the university, was used as a reference to customize MEP to better meet students’ needs. Since the proposed model applies a new emerging concept, it inevitably raises challenges related to different levels of understanding among course implementers and perceptions of external stakeholders. Moreover, the developers had to consider the limitations imposed by the university's policies and structures while acknowledging the availability of finite resources (i.e. time, money, equipment, and expertise).

Humanitarian engineering approach for re-designing pedestrian traffic inside the lecture building during the new normal COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 has brought a massive impact on people’s daily activities, office workers have implemented “Working from Home” (WFH), an elementary school to high school students have implemented “Study from Home” (SFH), as well as Campus academic communities’ activities’ implementing Learning from Home. This circumstance has changed daily human behavior for a year. In 2021, upon the completion of a global vaccination program, the situation is followed by a change in the pattern of daily living activities towards “a new normal”, in which direct human interaction is reinstated while still fulfilling health protocols, one of the actions is social distancing. This study examined the detection of pedestrian traffic for the academic community of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning (DURP), Brawijaya University and predicted certain crowds’ spots in the DURP building, using Computer Vision and the integration of Agent-Based Model and Geographical Information Systems Indoor. Furthermore, alternative designs for pedestrians were carried out in the DURP building to prevent the occurrences of crowds in certain spots. The results obtained are that on the 1st Floor of the DURP building, the West and East entrance paths have high traffic, so it is necessary to arrange for the opening of the Southside door as an alternative for pedestrian access. Likewise, for the 2nd Floor, the opening of the south gate contributes to minimizing crowd spots. All in all, the blended learning process through face-to-face learning at students grades 1 and 2, then online learning at students grades 3 and 4 might minimize the potential Covid-19 transmission facing a new normal higher education learning process.

Engineering Students’ Concepts of Humanitarian Engineering and Their Identity Development as Humanitarian Engineers

Humanitarian Engineering extends engineering practice to provide a focus on addressing social inequities and contributing to sustainable development for all. This study investigated undergraduate engineering students’ concepts of Humanitarian Engineering and motives to be Humanitarian Engineers as they acquire knowledge and skills and build a professional identity as engineers who can work in complex socio-technical sustainability contexts. Qualitative data were collected from an open-ended survey of 46 engineering students followed by semi-structured interviews with ten students at a U.S. university. Survey data provided individual characteristics that conceptualized and guided interviews to explore key relationships among participants’ concepts of Humanitarian Engineering and motivations. A central idea of a “Humanitarian Engineer” identity emerged, influenced by various motivations. Students envisioning themselves as Humanitarian Engineers were associated with socio-cultural background, motivation to practice engineering skills, and desire to travel. A value-related motivation, the desire to help others, appeared as a strong catalyst for developing students’ professional identities and empowering a possible future self as Humanitarian Engineers. To support sustainability education in engineering demands, initial motivation factors associated with student Humanitarian Engineer identity development are researched to support potential future practice and career development.

Using off-grid hydropower for community-led flood resilience: an integrated systems approach

ABSTRACT The need for reliable energy is an ongoing challenge. Poor energy access, particularly in off-grid areas, constrains socioeconomic development and reduces resilience against natural hazards. With water-based disasters becoming more frequent and intense, it is important that holistic insights are applied to the assessment of community vulnerabilities and capabilities. Humanitarian engineering interventions that combine renewable energy and flood early warning at the local level offer comprehensive solutions, have long-term potential, and promote synergies between community and professional stakeholders. This study examines a community-centered approach to localised hydropower and flood response within a framework of sustainable development. Using a systems approach, we develop strategies that potentially address multiple needs, including the intersecting needs of key stakeholder groups.

Global Environmental Engineering for and with Historically Marginalized Communities.

Marginalized communities lack full participation in social, economic, and political life, and they disproportionately bear the burden of environmental and health risks. This special issue of Environmental Engineering Science, the official journal of the Association of Environmental Engineering and Science Professors (AEESP), reports research on the unique environmental challenges faced by historically marginalized communities around the world. The results of community-based participatory research with an Afro-descendant community in Columbia, Native American communities in Alaska, United States, villagers in the Philippines, disadvantaged communities in California, United States, rural communities in Mexico and Costa Rica, homeless encampments in the San Diego River (United States) watershed entrepreneurs in Durban, South Africa, and remote communities in the island nation of Fiji are presented. The research reported in this special issue is transdisciplinary, bringing engineers together with anthropologists, sociologists, economists, and public health experts. In the 13 articles in this special issue, some of the topics covered include inexpensive technologies for water treatment, novel agricultural strategies for reversing biodiversity losses, and strategies for climate change adaptation. In addition, one article covered educational strategies for teaching ethics to prepare students for humanitarian engineering, including topics of poverty, sustainability, social justice, and engineering decisions under uncertainty. Finally, an article presented ways that environmental engineering professors can engage and promote the success of underrepresented minority students and enable faculty engaged in community-based participatory research.

Climate change and hydrological risk in the Pacific: a Humanitarian Engineering perspective

AbstractPacific Island communities have adapted to floods, droughts and cyclones over many generations. Small and low-lying islands are particularly exposed to natural disasters, and many countries have limited access to water resources. Anthropogenic climate change is expected to further increase these environmental pressures. Any associated engineering response needs to consider the cultural, societal and historical context, and prioritise the agency of local communities to determine their preferred outcomes. It follows that Humanitarian Engineering, a discipline centred around strengths-based and context-appropriate solutions, has an important role to play in climate change adaptation. In this review, the interplay between hydroclimatology, geography and water security in the Pacific Islands is described and projected climate shifts summarised to highlight future adaptation challenges. A key source of uncertainty relates to the dynamics of two convergence zones that largely drive weather patterns. A broad overview of societal factors that present challenges and opportunities for Humanitarian Engineers is given. Finally, actions are recommended to inform climate change adaptation given the scientific uncertainty around hydrologic risks, and outline lessons for best practice Humanitarian Engineering in the Pacific. Enhancing data sharing, building resilience to climate variability and integrating traditional knowledge with convention engineering methods should be key areas of focus.