...Ann-Perry Witmer Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide an ethnographic analysis of the infrastructure intervention process in rural, non-industrialized countries, providing justification for a new approach to technical design. The new approach, Contextual Engineering, merges engineering...

... understanding with technical design allows engineers to assimilate client values and indigenous beliefs into an infrastructure, preventing rejection due to incompatibility with local context. Originality/value The concept of contextual engineering, which melds technical approach with societal influences...