Creative Co-op Examines How We Will Live and Work Post-COVID
A sketch from Sofia Katona shows a view of a “living lab” in Boston, one that has been transformed to include more urban farms, more greenspace and an increased use of human-powered vehicles.
Accelerate, Wentworth Innovation + Entrepreneurship Center and the Department of Architecture came together this summer for a creative co-op entitled FutureLab. Co-op students, also known as Innovation Fellows, were charged with finding innovative solutions to the problems created by the COVID-19 crisis.
Students worked in teams for 13 weeks to define new problems, apply different models and produce concepts, ideas and suggested implementation. With an eye toward a post COVID-19 future, they examined themes of food production and distribution, public transportation, healthcare and community.
Fellows interacted with professionals from industry, community and government across disciplines and from Boston’s ecosystem. They could choose between Future of Cities, Reinventing Spaces, and Impact and Society as the topic they pursued.
The full 2020 report of their findings can be found online.
The FutureLab team consisted of Monique Fuchs, associate vice president, Innovation + Entrepreneurship; Anne-Catrin Schultz, associate professor, Department of Architecture; Greg Affsa, director, Accelerate; Tory Lam, Makerspace lead, Accelerate; and Accelerate co-ops Cathleen Hallinan, Sophie McKenzie and Jake Torregrossa.
--Greg Abazorius