The ‘systems approach’ to human problems: How humanitarian engineering can help

As the world finds itself in the 21st century, engineers will be challenged as never before to tackle the systems of complex problems threatening the advancement and very survival of humanity. Attempts to apply the systems approach to these messy problems have often failed because its practitioners failed to recognize the importance of understanding political, social, and economic factors as part of any true systems approach as well as part of any viable solutions to human problems. The relatively new field of humanitarian engineering is a balance of technical excellence, economic feasibility, ethical maturity, and cultural sensitivity. It represents the maturation of the principles of systems engineering, offers insight into why systems engineering has mostly failed in its attempts to solve human problems, and incorporates elements that should be embraced by the engineering education establishment to better prepare engineering students to meet the current and future needs of humanity.