Author of HOW INFRASTRUCTURE WORKS engineering professor. She/they. Also @debcha elsewhere: AT bsky.social, AT saturation.social, Instagram.
Joined September 2008
- Tweets 95,573
- Following 847
- Followers 9,664
- Likes 3,243
2,871 Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
6 Jun 2023
I am so, so delighted to share that my book, HOW INFRASTRUCTURE WORKS: INSIDE THE SYSTEMS THAT SHAPE OUR WORLD, will be published by Riverhead Books on October 17th, 2023 and is now available for pre-order.
penguinrandomhouse.com/books…
ALT A book cover that reads "How Infrastructure Works/Inside the Systems That Shape Our World/Deb Chachra" against a background that is a close-up of asphalt surface with yellow, orange and pink spray-painted markings.
16
70
339
91,150
Deb Chachra is mostly not here retweeted
21 Aug 2024
Inspired by @debcha's writing about infrastructure and frailty, I look at the CrowdStrike debacle through the lens of monoculture and polyculture.
21 Aug 2024
In computing, as in farming, the pursuit of efficiency can leave us vulnerable. Just look at CrowdStrike, writes @EthanZ.
prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas…
2
2
12
2,406
Deb Chachra is mostly not here retweeted
5️⃣words from … "How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems That Shape Our World" by @debcha
blog.wordnik.com/five-words-…
via @wordnik
1
1
523
Deb Chachra is mostly not here retweeted
7 Aug 2024
HOW INFRASTRUCTURE WORKS author @debcha weighs in on circularity and how we can grow the economy without making more useless junk in this @voxdotcom article!
vox.com/future-perfect/36505…
2
4
1,097
Deb Chachra is mostly not here retweeted
24 Jul 2024
When someone asked @debcha about how you can get kids to care about infrastructure, her response was that she wants kids to never have to think about it.
“I want the grownups to do a good enough job that we all have infrastructure that works well.” buff.ly/469gBrI
3
5
945
Deb Chachra is mostly not here retweeted
24 Jul 2024
Read this amazing Q&A with HOW INFRASTRUCTURE WORKS author @debcha in @PublicBooks! She's so great at encouraging readers to appreciate infrastructure and "boldly envision alternative futures."
publicbooks.org/infrastructu…
2
3
855
Deb Chachra is mostly not here retweeted
24 Jul 2024
.@Nature recommends you read @debcha's HOW INFRASTRUCTURE WORKS this summer, as it "will change how you view train departure boards, light switches and spray-painted symbols on the pavement." 🤯
nature.com/articles/d41586-0…
1
4
741
Deb Chachra is mostly not here retweeted
20 Jul 2024
“It’s possible to live by yourself and never interact with other people. It will not actually kill you. But humans, by and large, don’t do it, and infrastructure really is an instantiation of that implicit sociality.” buff.ly/4daCdGJ
2
2
812
Deb Chachra is mostly not here retweeted
23 Jul 2024
"...will change how you view train departure boards, light switches and spray-painted symbols on the pavement."
Congrats to @debcha, whose@SloanPublic book "How Infrastructure Works" was named one of @Nature's top reads for the summer
nature.com/articles/d41586-0…
3
5
484
Deb Chachra is mostly not here retweeted
22 Jul 2024
With @jenn_rossmann, @debcha calls for viewing infrastructure as a public good that contributes to health and well-being—but that doesn’t change the fact that investing in infrastructure is a clear form of economic stimulus. buff.ly/466ZDul
1
3
852
Deb Chachra is mostly not here retweeted
27 Jun 2024
1
1
1
392
Deb Chachra is mostly not here retweeted
21 Jun 2024
As #UKElection nears, kudos to @FaberBooks for inviting authors to select books that speak to the times. Pleased to nominate @debcha's fine book on infrastructure from @TorvaBooks
faber.co.uk/journal/keyissue…
2
1
416
20 Jun 2024
Austin friends, this is tonight — hope to see you there!
1
587
Deb Chachra is mostly not here retweeted
17 Jun 2024
Developing various, superior systems can help us transform existing materials into something new, writes Deb Chachra (@debcha). untappedjournal.com/issues/i…
1
2
331
Deb Chachra is mostly not here retweeted
15 Jun 2024
HOW #INFRASTRUCTURE WORKS @pengunusa by #MA #author & @OlinCollege's @debcha is a #massachusettsbookawards #nonfiction #longlist. Addresses the invisible systems that support us. See: ow.ly/nWpp50SgWOS #STEM #CenterForTheBook @MassLibAssoc @mblclibraries @NEIBAbooks
2
435
Deb Chachra is mostly not here retweeted
3 Jun 2024
Join @SloanPublic author @debcha & @austinkleon in @austintexasgov as they discuss her new book "How Infrastructure Works," about how essential utilities function, how much we rely on them & the consequences of systemic neglect
More details here:
austinkleon.com/2024/05/31/i…
3
6
1,869
Deb Chachra is mostly not here retweeted
5 Jun 2024
"Optimization presumes a kind of certainty about the circumstances one is optimizing for, but that certainty is, more often than not, illusory." — Mandy Brown, going on to cite @debcha below.
aworkinglibrary.com/writing/…
1
11
35
5,891
Deb Chachra is mostly not here retweeted
30 May 2024
As @debcha writes in her must-read 2023 book *How Infrastructure Works*, infrastructure is a gift we give to our descendants. Infrastructure projects rarely pay for themselves during the lives of the people who decide to build them:
pluralistic.net/2023/10/17/c…
27/
2
10
38
2,289
Here it is youtube.com/watch?v=pMz8US_-…
1
2
4
601
I'll be mentioning a lot of pathbreaking work by others including @debcha @MADz_Professor @KaiGehring1 @MatteoGrigo @DavidRArmitage @natterjee @AlffDave @mattspast @wgthomas3 among many others
2
2
6
808