Change Islands, an isolated fishing community spanning two small islands off the northeast coast of Newfoundland, is often saddled with the effects of infrastructure decisions made by people from larger, more urban environments. This is typical of small communities that struggle with infrastructure ill-suited to rural life, says Phoebe Sengers, associate professor of science and technology studies, in a Cornell Research profile.
“A lot of the engineers, researchers, and planners who develop these things have the best intentions, but they don’t always understand the reality of what it means to live in a rural community or how people’s lives are organized there,” Sengers says in the piece. “They often come in with ideas about how to reform rural life, and the infrastructure is going to be part of that reformation.”
