Engineering and society—the power of analogy

Abstract

There is an old saying that ‘everything has been done before somewhere’. It is particularly true in civil engineering, where design teams are often accused of ‘reinventing the wheel’ simply because they have not read the literature. But when there is no reference, no past experience to draw from, engineers and other professions would be well-advised to think laterally, to see if what they are trying to do is analogous to what other professions have already done. This paper demonstrates that social workers trying to reduce the vulnerability of communities have much to learn from the principles engineers have developed for reducing the vulnerability of structures. It goes on to show that the analogy can also work in reverse, reminding engineers of the more subtle factors that they should consider in order to ensure the safety of their designs.