As engineers increasingly engage with diverse communities, stakeholder context is recognized to significantly influence successful infrastructure design, including the acceptability of technology, consistency of maintenance, or overall longevity of systems. This influence is particularly critical when working with indigenous communities, given historical oppressions. Current engineering practice often treats engineers as objective observers and only emphasizes stakeholder identification, bypassing the significance of relationship building, limiting the understanding of how stakeholder dynamics affect technical outcomes. Through a case study with an indigenous tribe in the United States, stakeholder relationships are demonstrated to be dynamic and context-dependent, requiring continuous reflection by engineers as stakeholders. In the presented case study, relationships better enable equitable decision-making and directly influence technical aspects, including data sharing, design decisions, and implementation strategies in electrical and water infrastructure projects. These findings emphasize that when design practitioners adopt a relational ethic it transforms stakeholder engagement and consequently, technical design, challenging traditional engineering approaches that separate social and technical considerations.
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