O imaginaci českých rozvojových inženýrů

On the imagination of Czech development engineers. When it comes to designing buildings, the architects‘ or civil engineers‘ imagination plays an irreplaceable role. However, it remains a relatively unexplored topic in contemporary anthropology. In this study, I focus on the mobilization of imagination in the context of Czech development engineering, as taught and practised in the broader engineering community centred around the International Centre for Development Projects of the Czech Technical University. Here, imagination allows development civil engineers to replace elements to which they lack access while working on their designs (be it the development needs and characteristics of the target locality or its residents). At the same time, it allows them to test their solutions beforehand by means of thought experiments. Nevertheless, the broad use of imagination within the design process comes at a cost. While development constructions aspire to remain grounded in the local architectural tradition, the overuse of imagination might render such “tradition” a hollow concept. Replacing the local with the imaginary at the designing stage also leads to problems with the subsequent acceptance of the designs by the locals. However, most importantly, by reproducing and widening the divide between donors and recipients, an insufficiently critical deployment of imagination may undermine the main principles which underpin contemporary development engineering.