As a NuVu community, we spend our days in an urban ecosystem -- an ecology shared by humans,  plants and animals of all scales -- in the context of a human city. While humans in Cambridge have created and adopted objects, substances, and structures to enable us to move, travel, work, eat, study, sleep, socialize, and play in new ways, the products of our actions, both behavioral and physical, have led other species to change to accommodate us. Humans haven't predicted the ways our creations would be used by other species, or the ways our lifestyles would impact other kinds of life, but we can cultivate this radical new kind of understanding.

What would we notice if we examined coexistence as it occurs right here in our neighborhood? What would we see if we looked at the impact of pollution on species on our own NuVu block instead of the world stage? How have the habitats and habits of other species responded to our human priorities here in Cambridge? How might our sense of ourselves change - as individuals and communities - if we connect more deeply, listen more often, and look closer at the unforeseen local ecosystem we’ve shaped?

This studio explores these ideas and more using the lens of “Externality” to look at unforeseen human impacts. 

ex·ter·nal·i·ty 
/ˌekstərˈnalədē/
noun

1. economics:
   A side effect or consequence of an industrial or commercial activity that affects other parties without this being reflected in the cost of the goods or services involved, such as the pollination of surrounding crops by bees kept for honey.
2. philosophy:
   The fact of existing outside the perceiving subject.

In the context of this studio, the concept of externality will help us more understand our hyper-local ecosystem. Through reading, research, and discussion we will begin to understand which life forms and processes are bystanders to human events and interventions, which have instead influenced our behavior, which benefit or suffer because of our actions, and which seemingly resist or embrace the human city. 

Human behavior is  having many unintentional effects on our surrounding environment and ecosystems - some delightful and some devastating. In this studio, we will design devices or interventions that call attention to, remediate, or amplify human externalities in our local  Cambridge ecosystem.

A rowing oar that is specifically designed to filter out oils and toxins found in rivers, lakes, and other bodies of water. The FiltOar is intended for anyone who spends time out on the water and provides a much-needed way to help improve the water quality in our struggling environment. The FiltOar uses a charcoal filter in the center of the oar and a separate layer of oil absorbant material to clean the water as the consumer moves about the body of water.

The FiltOar serves everyone from outdoor enthusiasts to competitive rowing teams and allows them to help the environment while doing what they love. Additionally, the FiltOar gives rowers a great training mechanism as it provides more resistance than ordinary oars, making regular paddles feel extremely light when racing. The FiltOar cleans the water by the integration of various cartridges and filters placed inside the oar. There is a charcoal filter in the center that has a mechanism allowing the user to replace the filter or mesh as needed. It also has an absorbent material on the rest of the oar that is designed to collect oil from the water. The Filtoar is designed to filter out oils and other toxins from stormwater in addition to keeping toxic algal blooms at a small number during the peak of the season. The FiltOar is the perfect way to help improve the water quality in rivers and lakes and is also advantageous for competitive rowing teams, which makes the FiltOar a must-have product for both adventure-seekers and serious paddlers alike.

Siena: 

The area around Alewife brook reservation is fast paced and full of commuters. However, the ecology of the area is very rich and diverse. The Sound Catcher is a portable wearable that collects sounds from the wearer’s environment in order to allow them to feel more relaxed and in touch with the ecology of the park.

The Sound Catcher is a interactive device to help commuters in urban environments slow down and enjoy nature. The project is constructed by using a microphone to catch noise and amplify it, while using a sound channeling form, somewhat cone-like in shape. to only focus on nature instead of the urban environment. The Sound Catcher has a 3d printed mounting piece that attaches to somebody's arm so they could point the device at a bird or a tree rustling in the wind and they would hear what they pointed at much louder than they would have originally. The directional experience of pointing the device at a sound creates a visual link between humans and birds, trees, or other sources of nature sounds. The user would wear a pair of headphones and connect the sound catcher to their computer, this would allow them to experience the beauty of the environment. 

Hugo:

The Sound Catcher is a portable device that collects sounds from the wearer’s environment in order to allow them to feel more relaxed and in touch with the ecology of the reservation. It is a microphone surrounded by a sound-isolating cone, designed to help you only hear what you want to hear.

         The area around alewife is fast-paced and full of commuters. The project helps someone get in touch with the environment. It is for someone who passes through the area and does not notice the beauty of it, and it will help them slow down and experience nature more fully and ignore the urban areas. It works by collecting sound from a certain area only, which is done by covering the microphone with sound reflecting material on the inside, and sound dampening material on the outside.

My project's main point is to provide a nice comfortable sleeping location for any tiring opossum traveler. I noticed that they were always sleeping in very weird and uncomfortable locations so I decided to create a comfortable sleeping location for them to rest at during the day. 

The BirdBeacon is a hanging light which communicates to people that birds might not be valued or noticed in urban settings, but they are everywhere, including in the places where we don't pay attention.

The BirdBeacon is much like an upside-down lamppost, with a perch on the side for birds to sit down on. When a bird sits on the perch, the device activates, turning on the beacon light at the end of the pole. The project is designed to prompt people to pay more attention to the world around them, as people are often seen rushing from place to place, without actually looking around them and taking the time to notice little things.

To use the product, people would hang the BirdBeacon onto trees in public areas, like parks or sidewalks. Over time, the beacons would be activated by birds perching on the beacons themselves. The beacons would remain activated after the bird leaves, eventually creating a tree full of lights.