Ethics in the Case of Redesigning a Park Essay

In the course of pursuing any type of career, it is important that one undergoes training to teach them how to perform the particular job. For professionals such as engineers, doing the right job includes a lot more that what they were trained to do (Liao, 2013). These professionals must learn to be responsible to the public since they job involves interacting a lot with the members of the society For instance, if an engineer is contracted to construct a bridge, he must also consider whether the bridge will be safe for people to use besides looking at the cost of constructing that bridge (Liao, 2013). This means that professionals should be able to make judgment calls when required of them. In this light, this paper is a discussion of professional ethics as to whether closing an already existing park for two years in order to renovate it would be ethical or not. The park in question in this study is a large park that was in existence for more than thirty years. The park was used by many people during the weekends and evenings where they loved to relax and meditate about life. Moreover, many parents loved to take their children to this park where they would swing and play children’s games with their friends. The rest of the family would get to enjoy family picnics and barbeques and play different sports such as skating or bowling. Unfortunately, since the park was more than thirty years old, it had become old and degenerated and required to be renovated by a new developer. This meant that it had to be closed for almost two years for this to happen. The main ethical issue in this case is that the closure of the park will largely affect the social and interactive life of many families and people. Most of the people who frequented this park resided around the park and valued it for the relaxing effect it had on their lives. This was the place most people would meet, especially over the weekends to have chitchat as they watched their children play with each other. In overall, the park was very useful to everybody who visited it and formed part of his or her daily life routine. However, with the looming issue of redesigning the park and closing it down for two years, there are many ethical issues that require to be addressed. Assuming that I was part of the city urban planning council, I would allow the proposed project of the new park since it would bring a lot of beneficial developments to park users. According to the engineering values and ethical conduct, it is stated that engineers need to understand and promote the principles of sustainability and development. In addition, these professionals need to ensure that they uphold the high regard for environmental, social and economic obligations (Wang and Thompson, 2013). The code of engineering ethics was established by the engineers society in order to monitor the actions of fellow engineers during the course of their career (Hoke, 2013). This ethics code stipulated that engineers should not only consider the technical aspects of their work, but also the human side as well. Engineers need to ask themselves whether the projects are safe enough to the lives of people who will be beneficiaries of the building or facility they plan to put up. At all times, these professionals must make judgment calls that form part of the final decision they will make (Wang and Thompson, 2013). They must decide whether what is good for science and technology is equally good for humanity. There is always a certain responsibility to an expert in what they have created. In this case, allowing the proposed new park project will be beneficial to the previous users of the park. There are no engineering ethics that will be violated since people will be redirected to use another park and their lives will still be in safe hands elsewhere. The only violation that can be argued to be present in this project is that the cost of 20 million AED required in renovation and expansion may be a bit overboard. However, it can also be argued that the cost is justified due to the new developments that the project will bring into the new park. There are many ways that the renovations of the park, some of which may violate the engineering ethics conduct (Ameh and Odusami, 2010). First, renovation can be allowed to occur without the closure of the park. The second option would be to sub-divide the park into two parts such that the renovation occurs in a two- phase design. For each of these two decisions, there are serious consequences that may follow. In the first case, allowing the re-designing of the park while it is still in operation would endanger the lives of the people who will be frequenting the park. A building that is under construction may be a danger to the people around it. Considering that children frequent the park most of the time, they might endanger themselves in the course of play. Moreover, people who like talking a walk in the park may injure themselves in the course of the I walk through building materials and incomplete structures. In the second alternative, sub-dividing the park in order to redesign it in two phases may also have its own risks. For starters, sub-dividing the park would mean that the park would have more people in it than it usually holds. This would in turn lead to overcrowding and the park would no longer be conducive for relaxation. Moreover, it also means that the available recreational facilities would be strained such that their efficiency of park users will reduce much easily over time. In this regard, the decision to close down the park in order to re-design it would remain the most ethical approach to this matter. After the construction, the park is expected to have admirable designs and structures that people would enjoy walking through. Moreover, the new park will also have relaxation joints such as food cafes, restaurants, boutiques and public libraries. With all these features, the new park is expected to be admirable and will definitely improve the social lives of the people who frequent it. However, those families that enjoy having barbeques in the park will suffer since barbecues will no longer be allowed because of the danger of fires spreading. This is one of the disadvantages that creating the new park would have. However, when the ups are weighed against the downs, it remains very logical that redesigning of the park will have many numerous benefits to the users of this park. In conclusion, the re-designing of the park will bring with it many benefits that the users will live to enjoy. With regard to the engineering code of conduct, closure of the park for two years would mean that the lives of people would not be endangered since they will be re-directed to use other parks within the city. During the course of the two years, the park will be given a new facelift where additional social amenities and designs will be put up to enhance the appearance of the park. Ultimately, the new park would be beneficial to the frequenters once the re-designing project is complete. References Ameh, O. J., & Odusami, K. T. (2010). Professionals’ Ambivalence toward Ethics in the Nigerian Construction Industry.  Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education & Practice,  136(1), 9-16. Doi:10.1061/(ASCE)1052-3928(2010)136:1(9) Hoke, T. (2013). Maintaining Zero Tolerance for Bribery, Fraud, and Corruption.  Civil Engineering (08857024),  83(3), 36-37. Liao, S. C. (2013). Enhancing Ethics and the Competitive Environment by Accounting for Conflict of Interest in Project Procurement. Leadership & Management in Engineering,  13(2), 86-95. Doi:10.1061/(ASCE)LM.1943-5630.0000219 Wang, G., & Thompson, R. (2013). Incorporating Global Components into Ethics Education.  Science & Engineering Ethics,  19(1), 287-298. Doi:10.1007/s11948-011-9295-x Source document