Designed to make our lives easier and more productive in ways that were unimaginable even a hundred years ago, infrastructure often goes unnoticed when it works as intended. It provides our water, energy, and information. However, like all technologies, infrastructure is not only material but also profoundly human and social. From big structures like bridges to smaller yet equally crucial elements like sewers and cables, infrastructurural systems shape -- and are shaped by -- society in many ways.

To discuss infrastructures, agency, and care, we are joined by Prof. Dr. Deb Chachra (Olin College). Her recent book How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape Our World takes readers on a journey to explore these critical utilities, showing how they function and the effort it takes to maintain them. We will talk about the challenges these systems face, including neglect and climate change, and about how to make them fair, robust, and environmentally friendly.

The talk is hosted and organized by Dr. Anna Jobin in the context of the class Perspectives in the Social Studies of Technology, which is part of the new Master Minor Digital Society.

About the speaker

Dr. Deb Chachra is a Professor of Engineering at Olin College of Engineering, where she was among the earliest faculty, and the author of How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape Our World, named one of Publishers Weekly’s ‘Best Books of 2023’. She writes, thinks, builds, and speaks widely on themes of technology and society, and her work and ideas have been recognized and supported by the Sloan Foundation, the Autodesk Foundation, and the National Science Foundation, among others. Her technical background is in engineering physics, materials science, and bioengineering.