Fab Labsas open urban workshops

Cindy KohtalaPostdoctoral ResearcherAalto University, Finland

PLATSEN | 16 November 2016Sliperiet, Umeå University

urban change, citizen participation in urban planning, urban activismin Finnish, Swedish and English

available from the publisher's webshop (interface in Finnish)http://nemokustannus.pikakirjakauppa.fi/tuoteryhma/maailma_ja_yhteiskunta/1750#!product_id=9789522402929Adlibris (interface in Swedish)http://www.adlibris.com/se/bok/uusi-helsinki---det-nya-helsingfors---changing-helsinki-9789522402929Booky (interface in English)https://www.booky.fi/tuote/eeva_berglund/uusi_helsinki_11_nakokulmaa_kaupungin_mahdollisuuksiin/9789522402929

Greenleaf Publishing, 2014

order the hardback https://www.greenleaf-publishing.com/product-service-system-design-for-sustainabilitythe pdf is free (14 MB)http://www.lens.polimi.it/uploads/award/9781909493698_web.pdf

www.fablabs.io

Aalto Fablab, Helsinki

What we say versus what we do: Ideology versus practice

Espoo Mini Maker Faire, FinlandFablab Amsterdam, the Netherlands

What we saydemocratizing production

empowering communities

helping users meet their own needs

peer learning

community building

sharing

opening

distributing

localizing

What we saydemocratizing production

empowering communities

helping users meet their own needs

peer learning

community building

sharing

opening

distributing

localizing

ability to build, disassemble, reassemble, repair

production locally and only according to need

What we saydemocratizing production

empowering communities

helping users meet their own needs

peer learning

community building

sharing

opening

distributing

localizing

ability to build, disassemble, reassemble, repair

production locally and only according to need

REDUCED TRANSPORT EMISSIONS, REDUCED EMBODIED ENERGY OF UNNEEDED INFRASTRUCTURE (e.g. RETAIL)

MATERIAL ECO-EFFICIENCY, DEMATERIALIZATION

Trashlab repair event, Helsinki

LESSONS FOR COMMUNITY REPAIR, GRASSROOTS PRODUCTION

POSSIBLY ALSO DESIGN-FOR-DISASSEMBLY, DESIGN-FOR-REPAIR,

EXPERIMENTS TOWARDS REMANUFACTURING, (RE)DISTRIBUTED MANUFACTURING

Helsinki Hacklab

IMPORTANCE AND RELEVANCE:

UNDERSTANDING ISSUES IN DIGITAL FABRICATION

BEFORE TECHNOLOGIES BECOME INFRASTRUCTURE

CO-CREATING MEANINGS AND VALUES OF DIGITAL

FABRICATION AND DISTRIBUTED PRODUCTION

Source: Kohtala, Cindy, and Sampsa Hyysalo. 2015. “Anticipated Environmental Sustainability of Personal Fabrication.” Journal of Cleaner Production 99: 333–44.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN DIGITAL FABRICATION

What we do

Aalto FablabProtospace, Utrecht, the Netherlands

What we dohypercapitalism

financial profit

technocracy

mass production

consumerism

crapjects

grassroots innovation

micro-entrepreneurship

invention

local economies

empowerment

creativity

‘innovation’

‘entrepreneurship’

‘startups’

‘bringing manufacturing home’

‘STEM education’

FabLab Amersfoort, the Netherlands

IDEOLOGY IS VISIBLE:

PROJECTS SHOW COMMITMENT(e.g. TO OPEN HARDWARE)

Made in Kallio, Helsinki

IDEOLOGY IS VISIBLE:

PROJECTS INVITE QUESTIONS AND PARTICIPATION

FabLab Maastricht, the Netherlands

IDEOLOGY IS VISIBLE:

PROJECTS AND SPACE ARRANGEMENTS ENCOURAGE

RECYCLING AND REUSE

Valldaura Self-Sufficiency Lab, Barcelona

IDEOLOGY IS VISIBLE:

PROJECTS AND SPACES ARE THEMSELVES SUSTAINABILITY AND SELF-SUFFICIENCY EXPERIMENTS

(e.g. food, building, energy)

FabLab Breda, the Netherlands

IDEOLOGY IS VISIBLE:

PEER LEARNING DOES HAPPEN, DIVERSITY OF PARTICIPANTS APPEARS TO ENCOURAGE

INVENTION

Trashlab repair event

GREAT POTENTIAL TO EXPLORE

REPAIR, REUSE, DISASSEMBLY AND

REASSEMBLY, LOCAL

PRODUCTION FROM LOCAL MATERIALS

Open Source Circular Economy Days, Helsinki

GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO EXPLORE GRASSROOTS COMMUNITY ACTIVISM,

PARTICIPATION IN URBAN SUSTAINABILITY ACTIONS

BUT!

Source: Smith, Adrian. 2005. “The Alternative Technology Movement: An Analysis of Its Framing and Negotiation of Technology Development.” Human Ecology Review 12 (2): 106–19.

The Alternative Technology Movement

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES ARE NOT PRIORITIZED IN

FABLABS

EVERYDAY, MUNDANE TASKS TEND TO

DOMINATE (MANAGERS' BUSY

SCHEDULES)

Aalto Fablab

ECO-ORIENTED MAKERS AND

TECH-ORIENTED MAKERS APPEAR TO BE DIFFERENT

GROUPS

Koppelting, Fablab Amersfoort

VERY FEW EXAMPLES IN THE GLOBAL NORTH

/ EUROPE THAT COMBINE

SUSTAINABILITY EXPLORATIONS WITH DIGITAL TECH WITH OPEN DESIGN, P2P

PROCESSES

FAB12 Shenzhen

LABS IN THE GLOBAL NORTH / EUROPE LARGELY APPEAR GENERIC: LOCAL EMBEDDEDNESS?

PRINCIPLES OF LOCAL PRODUCTION OR

LOCAL URBAN ECONOMY?

AWARENESS OF SUPPLY CHAINS? NEGATIVE

IMPACTS OF E-WASTE AND LABOUR CONDITIONS?

FAB12 Shenzhen

New Narratives: FAB CITY

New Narratives: MAKER CITY

"All cities have the potential to build a rich ecosystem around Making for their economic benefit." (Chapter 3)

MAKER CITY

-> communal

-> a different (better) economy, city, community

economic

social

environmental

environmental

social

economic

-> individualistic

-> the same economic system we have now, but with

changed actors

FAB CITY

FabLab Breda, the Netherlands

LESSONS:

THERE AREENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES IN DIGITAL FABRICATION

MAKER COMMUNITIES NEED TO BE BROUGHT TOGETHER (ECO MEETS

TECH)

HAVE ONE+ SPACE DEVOTED TO

SUSTAINABILITY EXPERIMENTS

DON'T HIDE THE CONTROVERSIES –

DISCUSS THEM