Towards a debate on the positioning of engineering design

Abstract

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.