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The image and status of the engineering profession is declining as the public identifies engineers with controversial and environmentally damaging technologies. Engineers are too often characterised as being male, socially inept, politically naive and aligned with selfserving developers. They are finding themselves at the centre of controversies they don't fully understand. Increasingly engineers are subjected to law suits because the public, which has an unrealistic perception of the nature of engineering, blames them when things go wrong.

Engineering appears to be at a turning point. It is evolving from an occupation that provides employers and clients with competent technical advice to a profession that serves the community in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. Increasingly engineers themselves and their professional societies aspire to be broadbased professionals. Employers are also requiring more from their engineering employees than technical proficiency.

Engineering in the modern world involves many social skills. There is also an increasing need for engineers to choose technological solutions that are appropriate to their social context and to give consideration to the longterm impacts of their work, if only because the work of engineers can have wideranging effects. Today's technologies can impact on the whole globe and they can impact on future generations. Never before has there been such a moral imperative to consider what may have been thought of as unintended consequences in the past.

This book sets out to provide a resource to help engineering students understand the social dimensions and context of engineering work as well as the social role and responsibilities of the new engineer. Part One canvasses the issues and develops the debates central to a discussion of engineering in contemporary society. Part Two shows how those debates are put into action with a detailed case study highlighting most of the key concerns for the new engineer, while Part Three develops the general discussion about engineers and the environment, engineering ethics, and engineers at risk. It also seeks to stimulate discussion within the profession about the qualities of the new engineer and to provide insights to nonengineers who have an interest in the shaping and implementation of technology in modern society.

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Contents

Introduction

Part I Engineering - past and present

  1. The traditional engineer
    Science and Status
    Choosing Engineering as a Career
  2. The engineering profession
    Career Structure
    Professionalism
    Professional vs Business Values
    Appendix
  3. Engineering design and philosophy
    Preindustrial Design
    Modern Design Methods
    Engineering as Experimentation
  4. Development of technology
    Technological Choice
    Technology as a Social Activity
    Technological Paradigms and Trajectories
  5. Part II Sewerage case study

  6. Cleaning up the cities
    The Battle for Sewers
    WaterCarriage vs Dry Conservancy
    Government and Social Control
  7. From sewage farms to sedimentation tanks
    Sewage Experiments
    Trends in Sewerage Treatment
    A Sewerage Engineering Paradigm?
    Prospects for Change
  8. Controversy - Sydney`s beaches in crisis
    Ocean Outfall Predictions
    Bioaccumulation Studies of Sydney Fish
    Manipulating the Media
  9. Technology and regulation
    The Basis for Environmental Standards
    Influencing Technological' Change
    The Cost to Industry
  10. Part III The new engineer and social responsibility

  11. Technology and the environment
    Technology as a Cause of Environmental Problems
    Appropriate Technology
    Clean Technology
    Appendices
  12. The role of experts
    The Basis of Expert Authority
    Defining Decisions as Technical
    Public Participation
  13. Engineering ethics
    A Social Contract
    Environmental Impact Assessment
    Support for Ethical Engineers
    Appendices
  14. Engineers at risk?
    Risk Assessment and Communication
    Incinerator Case Study
    Conclusions
  15. The new engineer