social innovation Archives

2022 Design Week: Designing Human-Centered Cities Recap

The Design Lab at the NYU MakerSpace recently held its Design Week, a week of events focused on a critical aspect of design. Design Week 2022: Designing Human-Centered Cities was all about answering the following question: how might we reimagine spaces within cities to be more equitable and inclusive? Increasing populations and densification are two of the most complex issues within cities today. As a result, engineers, architects, urban planners, and designers alike must come together…

2021 Design Week: Designing Waste Out Recap

The Design Lab at the NYU MakerSpace recently held its Design Week, a week of events focused on a critical aspect of design. For the second year in a row, the team decided to focus on sustainability. Design Week 2021: Designing Waste Out was all about taking action and reducing waste. All of this year’s events were virtual and the week was packed with talks, workshops, and a panel. NYU students working on sustainability focused…

Sustainability @ NYU: BioDesign

Project and blog post by Annick Saralegui The linear “take, make, dispose” material and energy flow model primarily relies on energy and water intensive mechanized equipment and technologies. The technologies are designed to eliminate any uncertainties and perform on efficiency. However, as extractive technologies become more efficient in eliminating any variables that may cause quality variation or decreased yields, they also eliminate important living biological agents – our so called enemies – microbes. There is…

Sustainability @ NYU: Fishel Aquaponics

Project and blog post by E.J. and E.W. Aquaponic farming produces environmentally sustainable food by leveraging natural relationships between water, fish, and plants. In an aquaponic system, water from a fish tank is cycled through a vegetable bed. The fish waste in this water provides organic fertilizer to the plants; as the roots absorb the fish waste, they purify the water for the fish. In contrast to conventional agriculture, a well-designed aquaponic system requires no…

Sustainability @ NYU: Longboards

Project and blog post by Isabela “Isay” Acenas At 4PM, the mechanics shop my parents work in closes, but at 4:01PM, I’m setting up for class in the back corner of the warehouse. Saws, screwdrivers, and safety glasses are on each worktable. Although remote learning has been difficult to manage across a 3-hour time difference, it has also allowed me to spend time in the warehouse I grew up in and dive deeper into woodworking…

Category: social innovation