This document discusses key challenges and questions to consider in sustainability engineering projects, particularly those done in developing communities. It highlights the importance of understanding who the real owners and beneficiaries of projects are, whose knowledge counts, and how projects are implemented on the ground. It also summarizes some of Anu Ramaswami's university projects in India and Sri Lanka as examples.

1. Challenges in Sustainability Engineering–Design for Whom, How and Why? Anu Ramaswami Professor and Director IGERT: Sustainable Urban Infrastructure Center for Sustainable Infrastructure Systems University of Colorado Denver (UCD)

2. Principles of Sustainability Engineering There have been ongoing efforts to develop guiding principles for sustainability engineering Anastas, P.; Zimmerman, J. “Design through the Twelve Principles of Green Engineering,” Environmental Science and Technology , 37, 94A – 101A, 2003 Primarily design oriented

3. The Sandestin Declaration EPA’s Nine Principles of Green Engineering * ( http://www.epa.gov/oppt/greenengineering ) *as developed by more than 65 engineers and scientists at the Green Engineering: Defining the Principles Conference, held in Sandestin, Florida in May of 2003. Principle 7: Develop and apply engineering solutions, while being cognizant of local geography, aspirations, and cultures. How do engineers “do this” and teach this to students? How to integrate with system-wide environmental goals (resource conservation, carbon mitigation,..)

4. University Colorado Denver Projects Wind Generator Installation in Tribal Village in India Site Assessment for Water Supply project in Tribal Village Renewable Energy Project in Tsunami impacted area of Sri Lanka

5. Three Questions to Ask For whom is the project? Who sets project objectives? Whose Knowledge Counts? How is the project implemented? Who benefits from the project? Why is the project being done in the first place?

6. Who owns the project? For Whom? Often US University teams undertaking developing community projects pose the entire community as the “owner”. In reality, the owner and driver often are: The Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that pose the project Priorities and Philosophies need to be understood Important Social groups are excluded from agenda-setting Examples: Rural Women who face the actual problem

7. Field Installation of a Horizontal Axis Wind Generator in India Rachel Werther and Mark Pitterle March, 2005

8. Village meeting at a distance Village meeting held to assess needs

9. Close-up of Village Meeting Representative from each of the 12 hamlets present at the meeting 12 Hamlet Leaders

10. Women Meeting After 3 days of persistence, we were finally able to have a meeting where only women attended Women from 2 hamlets attended

11. Whose Knowledge Counts? Technically-detailed devices such as wind generators need trained and educated operators This village had an electrical engineer who led and operates the project Such leadership is sparse (not scalable)

12. Village Team after Installing the Windmill

13. Whose knowledge on sustainability counts? Often developing communities are far more sustainable in resource use Developing communities often have a systems view embedded in local knowledge Care needed to integrate this local knowledge into the “systems view” of the trained external engineer (outsider) Learning this skill is life-long learning, takes time

14. Tribal Home Construction

15. Grain Storage

16. Close up of the distillery

17. Who benefits from the project? Impacts in the communities can be complex Unsure if projects really benefit the sensitive populations in the long-term Example: Benefits to children in dormitory projects are at best indirect Few community development projects conduct an end-point impact assessment NGOs that set the agenda are often beneficiaries International student teams benefit Hands-on experience, Education, Visibility

18. Sustainable Infrastructure IGERT at UCD Inter-disciplinary IGERT Program Engineering, Planning, Public Affairs, Health & Behavioral Sciences Sequence of Four Inter-Disciplinary Courses Intro to Sustainable Infrastructure Integrates Technology & Social Actors Defining and Measuring Sustainability Project based active learning with two local communities How do communities define sustainability? Social Science Theories of Change Infrastructure & Public Health

19. Education: Participatory Research Techniques and Principles From: Cornwall & Jewkes, 1995; Ramaswami et al., Environmental Science & Technology, 2007

20. Thank You! www.cudenver.edu/IGERT