In 2021-22, I was a UTM Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Communication, Culture, Information and Technology. The research explored the intertwined histories of infrastructure and the networked home, focusing on the “electronic cottage,” a term coined by the techno-futurist Alvin Toffler (1981). In the “electronic cottage,” people could work from home reducing car dependence, congestion, and pollution from transportation. The research examines the relationship between “home centredness” and the changing nature of urban forms and flows. Urban infrastructure has increasingly served the consumption demands of networked homes, and this has only been magnified during the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of this project, I conducted research in the Alvin and Heidi Toffler Archive at Columbia University, in New York City.
