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Engineering Solutions in the Global Context


The phrase "global engineering" enjoys considerable cachet these days, thanks in part to the success of organizations such as Engineers Without Borders, and also because many industries have interests in diverse locations around the world. But what exactly is global engineering? A couple of major research projects from our faculty members reveal some of the related issues in a very tangible way.

Cement & the City

Govind Gopakumar and David Sadoway examine the critical role infrastructure plays in the life of a changing city. Gopakumar, an Assistant Professor with the Centre for Engineering in Society, is very interested in finding answers to the question: what are the changing relations between infrastructure technologies and society? Sadoway, a postdoctoral fellow and urban studies scholar, supported by Gopakumar's Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) grant, has been working with him since 2012.

"We're interested in infrastructure change in contemporary cities," says Gopakumar. "How do people and commodities move in cities, and how do we study the city itself?"

In 2013, Sadoway spent five months in India, interviewing policymakers, engineers and residents about that country's large-scale $10 billion (USD) infrastructure renewal project. He looked in particular at several sites in the city of Bangalore that had purported to solve congestion. One particular project, a connector road, had exceeded its budget and timeframe, and in the end, had only exacerbated traffic problems. A key overall finding was that infrastructure designs were proposed with minimal participation or consultation with local residents, and they also didn't integrate transportation, energy or environmental objectives.

"We tried to trace back to the origin of the problems," explains Sadoway. Part of the two-fold research approach--extremely local, combined with the "big picture," entailed talking to scholars, government representatives and staff in Delhi. What design principles were in place for such projects? What role was there for community consultation? The investigation found that major infrastructure solutions were being implemented without any participative mechanisms.

Gopakumar points out that in the western world, just as in India, large infrastructure projects can be fraught with similar problems. A short drive from Concordia, the Turcot freeway interchange is crumbling and awaiting a major overhaul. How the project is reconceived and implemented will have major implications for the sustainability of transportation in Montreal.

Gopakumar and Sadoway continue to work intensively on the launch of an international research network devoted to urban infrastructure governance, with scholars to be initially recruited from Concordia, and in India from the School of Architecture and Planning and the National Institute of Urban Affairs, both in New Delhi. The network will then expand to other institutions.

Investigating African Innovation

Matthew Harsh, an Assistant Professor in the Centre, studies how new and emerging technologies can improve livelihoods in Africa. He is in particular considering Kenya and Uganda, neighbouring countries that through their differences and similarities afford great opportunities for case studies.

He is the co-principal investigator of a project funded by the National Science Foundation in the United States. The aim is to understand how local computer science is supporting an important shift in Africa: the change from absorbing technologies from overseas to creating home-grown innovations. In Nairobi in Kenya, Harsh has observed a dispersed research culture spread among several universities and innovation incubators, whereas in Kampala in Uganda, there is a more centralized community linked to Makerere University.

Harsh is interested to know whether there is  a uniquely African computer science, distinct from that found elsewhere. He notes how important mobile technology has been in the African continent, given its relatively low cost to individuals and its accessibility.

He agrees with his colleagues Gopakumar and Sadoway that "it's very difficult to solve a problem if you start with a technology already in mind. You need to start with the community, then bring in local experts and resources to drive innovation."

Over the coming years, Harsh's research will help assess the impact of technology in Kenya and Uganda and its role in relevant economic and social innovation.



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