Center for Engineering Studies, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences
China National Railway Group Co., Ltd.

工程生态是中国工程师和哲学专家立足工程实践的新进展,进行理论升华,响应社会和时代的呼唤而提出的新概念、新理论。“工程生态”是一种新的思维方式和理论范式,它把“本义”或“狭义”的“自然生态”进一步解释为“广义生态”;把工程活动中的各种个体和要素(企业、机器、人工物等)理解为“生命体”;把“工程活动”和“工程整体”理解为“生态系统”。工程生态的基本研究对象是工程而不是生态。文中具体分析和阐释了工程生态的6个基本特征,同时也分析了工程生态和自然生态的3个差异点。

In 2017, the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China stated that “China’s economy hasshifted from a stage of high-speed growth to a stage of high-quality development”. In 2020, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19thCentral Committee of the Communist Party of China pointed out that “China has shifted to a stage of high-quality development”. Thestatement of “turning to a new stage” not only tells us that new situations and new problems have emerged, but also requires us tohave new ways of thinking and analytical frameworks, as well as new strategic thinking. This is the basic situation for “engineeringecology” studies.The development strategy of engineering cannot be separated from the philosophy of engineering. The Department of EngineeringManagement (DEM) has achieved internationally leading results in engineering philosophy research. In 2023, the DEM set up the“engineering ecology” project, which is a continuation and expansion of engineering philosophy research. This project will reveal themechanisms that form the “healthy development” or “pathological operation” of engineering from the perspectives of technologicalecology, economic ecology, social ecology, cultural ecology, etc. It will also, based on the broad engineering ecological thinking andthe broad ecological operation theory, analyze the theoretical and practical issues of industry, regional, and project in engineeringecology, and strive to further deepen the understanding of China’s high-quality development strategy through research on engineeringecology theory.Engineering is not only a narrow natural ecological relationship, but also a broad, dynamic, and complex hierarchical engineeringecological relationship. Engineering ecology is a new concept and theory proposed by Chinese engineers and philosophers based onthe new progress of engineering practice, the theoretical sublimation, and the response to the calling of the society and the age.Engineering ecology is also a new way of thinking and theoretical paradigm, and it interprets “the natural ecology” in the original ornarrow sense as “the broad ecology”. It also views various individuals and elements (enterprises, machines, artifacts, etc.) inengineering activities as “the living entities”; and it explains “engineering activities” and “engineering as a whole”as “ecosystems”.The basic research object of engineering ecology is engineering rather than ecology.In general, engineering ecology has the following six basic characteristics: (1) Engineering ecology is a heterogeneous elementsand heterogeneous “members” of a structure and function with broad ecological characteristics as a whole; (2) The object and contentof engineering ecology have both “human constructiveness” and “life autonomy”, which is the unity of autonomy andconstructiveness, as well as the unity of self-organization and hetero-organization; (3) The structure and function of engineeringecological objects have three-dimensional network and complex diversity; (4) The relationships and characteristics of competition,cooperation, co-opetition, symbiosis, (traditional) inheritance, innovation, evolution, and emergence in the “broad life entity” and“broad ecology” of engineering objects and activities; (5) The engineering ecology has micro-meso-macro levels and there are mutualrelationships, influences, and interactions among different levels; (6) The “internal units” and different levels of “structure”“function” “boundaries” and “interrelationships” in engineering ecosystems have characteristics similar to “living organisms”, whichhave the characteristics of occupying, fuzziness, dynamism, and openness in ecosystems.

中国工程院战略研究与咨询项目“工程生态建构理论与发展战略研究”

李伯聪, 王楠, 傅志寰. 工程生态研究:社会与时代的呼唤[J]. 工程研究——跨学科视野中的工程, 2023, 15(5): 365-377.

DOI:10.3724/j.issn.1674-4969.23011023Li B C, Wang N, Fu Z H. On engineering ecology: A call of the society and the times[J]. Journal of Engineering Studies,2023, 15(5): 365-377.