Session: DAC-12-01-Engineering for Global Development

Paper Number: 90683

90683 - Systematic Review and Classification of the Engineering for Global Development Literature Based on Design Tools and Methods for Social Impact Consideration 

"Triple Bottom Line Sustainability" focuses on economic, environmental, and social sustainability and has become an important goal for those designing products. Economic considerations are an established part of the engineering design process. Environmental considerations are increasingly being considered in design including the development of design standards and widely used methodologies. Social impact considerations, however, lack the standardization and wide inclusion of economic and environmental considerations. While many tools and methodologies for assessing social impact exist and are used in the social science and development fields, there is a lack of standard methods for considering the broader social impact of products in the engineering community. Some reasons these methods are not as widely used in the engineering community include designers not being aware of the methods, or methods not being widely applicable. The purpose of this research is to help designers and researchers find relevant design tools and methods for implementing social impact considerations. This is done through the classification of 374 papers in the Engineering for Global Development (EGD) literature along several dimensions including method purpose, industry sector, social impacts considered, sustainable development goals, paper setting, and data inputs required. This paper describes how designers and researchers can use this classified paper set to locate relevant design tools and methods to improve social impact considerations in their work.

Presenting Author: Christopher Mattson Brigham Young University

Presenting Author Biography: Chris Mattson is a professor or mechanical engineering at Brigham Young University in Utah.

Authors:

Andrew Armstrong Brigham Young University
Hailie Suk University of Buffalo
Christopher Mabey Brigham Young University
Christopher Mattson Brigham Young University
John Hall University of Buffalo
John Salmon Brigham Young University