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CGS proudly hosted a talk on Global Attitudes of Rural Technical Inferiority as a Cause for Migration to Cities in the Non-Industrialized World presented by Ann-Perry Witmer on December 4th, 2019.
Speaker Bio: Ann-Perry Witmer is a lecturer in Agricultural and Biological Engineering, where she directs a robust research laboratory that investigates the significance of societal context in technical design. She also has served as faculty adviser to Engineers Without Borders-UIUC and AWWA/WEF.
Event Description: A global predisposition toward disengagement with rural societies not only has created a trend toward urban migration but has produced a snowballing loss of techno-diversity. In the same way, we recognize the value of biodiversity and seek to preserve plant and animal species that have evolved specifically to adapt to location and time, we need to recognize a need to preserve place-based technical thought – which we call innovative self-sufficiency. By collaboratively designing place-focused technical applications for rural societies, technical designers can better equip societies to preserve rural livelihoods, stabilize urban migration, and ensure sufficient food production capabilities to meet local population needs.