Victoria Mohr, Alejandro Ponce de Leon & Philipp Simon
FUEL(ING) THE CITY: A DIY Kit for Energy Stewardship is a hands-on workshop designed to foster storytelling, imagination, and reflection on energy circuits that connect landscapes, cities, and people. Building simple models and creating electric circuits, participants are invited into a dialogue to evaluate energy systems and envision future energy networks rooted in justice and collaboration.
As it continues to develop, the project aims to establish a replicable program and DIY kit that equips participants with accessible tools—such as low-cost Arduino-based prototypes—for imagining renewable energy solutions in public spaces. The goal is to encourage residents, community members, experts, and stakeholders to reimagine their city through localized “energy sovereignty storytelling” (Castro et al. 2024).
Located in the San Francisco Bay, California, the “Contra Costa Refinery Belt” is home to five refineries that stand around dense urban areas—serves as a case study. These refineries have significant repercussions on the community, biodiversity, and environment, with issues such as oil spills, explosions, and volatile pollutants historically affecting environmental and human health. Community-based monitoring programs, such as Purple Air, currently respond to citizens’ demands for air quality and accountability, but can public spaces encapsulate community aspirations for clean-energy landscapes while reducing dependency on fossil fuels as a form of social protest?
By activating new narratives and fostering hands-on engagement with energy infrastructure, Fuel(ing) the City contributes to a broader vision of an equitable and localized energy transition. It nurtures imagination while teaching accessible tech skills and invites place-based reflection on how communities might reconfigure energy systems toward shared, just futures.