Development Tasks for Civil Engineers

In some advanced countries, when the time is right, civil engineers can reduce failures and other disappointments in urban and infrastructure developments by taking the lead in establishing a formative, multi-sector design process I call “development engineering.” Based on a wide range of experience in thirty countries and with engineering firms and the World Bank, I advocate establishing “Regional and National Design Centers” within three countries (Chile, Mexico, and Turkey) to provide stable settings for design teams, which can be responsive and responsible to the country and people they serve. I describe a proposed comprehensive process for doing pre-investment work that should produce efficient, sustainable development by applying basic engineering design principles.