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TOWARDS A DEBATE ON THE POSITIONING OF ENGINEERING DESIGN

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2021

Chris McMahon ,
Claudia Eckert  and
Georges Fadel
Chris McMahon*
Affiliation:
University of Bristol;
Claudia Eckert
Affiliation:
The Open University;
Georges Fadel
Affiliation:
Clemson University
*
McMahon, Christopher, University of Bristol Department of Mechanical Engineering United Kingdom, chris.mcmahon@bris.ac.uk

Abstract

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This paper is an invitation to a debate on the positioning of engineering design as a field of research. The paper lists a multiplicity of interpretations of design, questioning whether they are sufficient to describe engineering design in all its variety. Following a critical analysis of attempts to describe design's unique characteristics, and observations on the nature of design made from outside of the design research community, it presents a list of situations of design that the authors have observed in engineering practice, describing especially the relationship between design, technology and society. The paper then explores what these situations imply about the questions researchers should ask about the nature of design knowledge and expertise, and examines how the different situations might be categorised, before exploring the positioning of engineering design research with respect to other academic disciplines, in particular management and the human and earth sciences. The paper concludes with a call to a debate on the nature of engineering design with the aim to define this field more clearly to ourselves and to others.

Keywords

Design practiceDesign theoryTechnology
Type
Article
Information
Proceedings of the Design Society , Volume 1: ICED21 , August 2021 , pp. 3169 - 3178
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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