The role of controversy in engineering design

Abstract To ensure the acceptance of technical systems and products in society, the crucial role of social controversy in technology development has to be more openly recognized. Many of the current acceptance problems of technical systems developed because the social controversy generated by the system under design was not sufficiently taken into account. Actively managed and organized controversy, on the other hand, could become an integral part of the engineering design process and the basis for a new underlying philosophy of design. Technical design in companies and technological organizations could be opened up to the active involvement of social actors usually excluded from it (like the actual users of the technology as well as potentially affected social groups), to allow for the incorporation of more diverse points of view into the design of new technical systems; in this way, socially and ecologically, as well as technically and economically more acceptable solutions could be generated.