Title / Titre :
Changing Identities in Transportation : Definition and Measurement of Cultural Exclusion in Innovative Design

Author(s) / Auteur(s) :
Malindi Neluheni

Address / Adresse :
3909 N. Murray Avenue, Apt. 807
Shorewood, WI 53211
Email : Fundudzi@aol.com
Tel : (414) 906-0729 (H)
(414) 374-6240 (W)

Key words / Mots clés :

Abstract / Résumé : Innovative technology in transportation engineering is biased towards western models that are often adopted and directly applied in the context of developing communities. Theory, methods and language of communicating engineering technology, are often conceived in the context of standards and applications to suit the prescriptive nature of outcomes associated with these technologies. This creates severe constraints on the availability and utility value of these technologies to African communities.

Culture is a pervasive aspect that makes applications of engineering technologies adopt unique contextual value within specific communities. However, due to lack of identifiable frameworks for applications in African and other developing societies, the available technology often fails to achieve the intended results. Knowledge, information and culture are increasingly becoming borderless as new computer and communication technologies are transforming the way people work, travel, communicate, and consume, hence the need for an identifiable, distinct perspective is long overdue.

The paper reports on transportation technology applications and the impact of culture. The experiences of the author, working on transportation projects and on research in transportation construction and operations, has motivated investigation into the many challenging problems in application theory of science within the cultural perspective. It argues that meaningful technology derives technical, functional or utility value within the context of individuals that use it. It posits that the current unique challenges of developing communities cannot be solved by the existing technology in its exclusionary perspective, but by innovative design and creation of scientific knowledge that Africa should create to solve its problems.

The need for a new perspective in defining and measuring the part of culture that makes transportation projects in developing communities succeed or fail is proposed.