DM-UY 4913 L – Engineering Resilience: Community Technologies & Infrastructures of Care
What happens when the power goes out, the internet drops, or food supply chains break down? Communities that can design their own systems (whether for energy, food, or communication) are stronger, safer, and more creative. This course introduces you to community technologies: practical tools and infrastructures that help people adapt and thrive in times of uncertainty.
You’ll learn to harvest renewable energy from local resources, design resilient communication networks (that work without Wi-Fi or cell service), grow food through urban gardening, and map community assets for collective action. Along the way, you’ll also experiment with citizen science, environmental sensing, fermentation, and other low-tech, high-impact practices.
The course includes guest lectures, field trips to New York City Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), hands-on workshops, scavenger hunts, and collaborative design challenges. Together, we’ll not only practice building resilient systems but also imagine new futures where justice, care, and creativity are at the heart of technology.