A place to make.
I imagine a place where you can work at a computer, head down to the workshop, ask someone about a material and test an idea the same day. There is a garden nearby, someone is running a class, and people with different experiences learn from one another. I’m drawn to this combination of work, making and everyday life.
Fab City gives this intuition a wider context. It proposes cities and communities that develop local production capabilities through shared international knowledge. A design, instruction or piece of code can originate far away. Making, repairing and adapting it to people’s needs can happen closer to where it will be used. [1, PDF pp. 1–2, 5–7]
Global knowledge, local capabilities
The whitepaper describes a shift in the urban model: from importing finished products and generating waste to developing local material loops and exchanging data. The authors use the terms PITO — Products In, Trash Out — and DIDO — Data In, Data Out. [1, PDF p. 5]
It is easier to understand through the example of furnishing a shared workshop. A table design could be shared with its documentation, then adapted by a local maker to available plywood, machinery and users’ heights. Another workshop might later improve a joint or add a feature that makes repairs easier. This is how I explain the idea to myself, rather than a description of a specific Fab City project.
A whole set of skills matters here: design, an understanding of materials, documentation, organising work and sharing knowledge. A downloadable file is not enough if nobody locally can make it or modify it safely.
The whitepaper places fab labs and makerspaces within a wider network of local businesses, educational institutions and production infrastructure. It envisages cooperation across different scales of making. [1, PDF pp. 6–8]
make-a-thek
The library as a place to make
I like the fact that this vision can be explored through fairly ordinary places. make-a-thek, a project in Fab Lab Barcelona’s Distributed Design area, develops modular workshops in public libraries. It brings together fashion, craft, digital fabrication and material reuse.
Plans include equipment kits and open educational materials tested through pilots. Fab Lab Barcelona describes its contribution to learning materials, community involvement and a Barcelona pilot in 2026. This is an initiative in development; its stated aims do not yet measure its long-term effects. make-a-thek project description
The library is interesting in this role because access to knowledge is joined by access to tools and other people. For a similar place, I would immediately ask about workshop supervisors, opening hours, material costs and how beginners are introduced. Such decisions determine who actually walks through the door.
Exploring futures in the field
Another area at Fab Lab Barcelona, Emergent Futures, explores possibilities in changing social and technological conditions. Its projects include Barcelona MicroBioMap, a study of the urban microbiome: microorganisms found in air, soil, on leaves and on city surfaces.
According to the project documentation, two field campaigns were carried out at 50 locations in 2020. Fab Lab Barcelona developed a public platform for exploring sampling points, seasons and surface types. It is a concrete example of connecting natural science, technology and communication. Barcelona MicroBioMap documentation
I see an interesting extension of biophilic thinking here. We can understand a space through its living processes, including those not immediately visible. Design then begins with a closer reading of the place, before decisions about its form.
- 50
- MICROBIOMAP LOCATIONS
- 2
- FIELD CAMPAIGNS
- 2020
- YEAR OF THE DOCUMENTED STUDY
ReeFab
ReeFab brings together environmental education for young people, workshops, local craft and fab lab tools. Its programme includes local experiments and the development of educational materials. I’m interested in its attempt to turn concern for the environment into opportunities for collective action. This is a stated project direction, not a confirmed finding about participants’ wellbeing. ReeFab programme description
Solarpunk needs maintenance too
This is the part of solarpunk that appeals to me: technology, nature and cooperation become elements of everyday life that people can take responsibility for. In this sense, Local Futures would mean developing local capabilities and relationships while remaining open to knowledge from elsewhere.
It is worth looking at the costs and constraints too. Being local does not, by itself, determine a product’s environmental impact. In assessing a solution, I would want to consider material and energy use, durability, repairability and the user’s actual need. These are questions to test within a project.
The same applies to a workshop: it needs funding, equipment maintenance, people who share their knowledge and rules for using it. Documentation must be understandable, and repairs must remain possible when the first prototype’s designer has moved on. To me, these organisational details are part of design.
From vision to a testable idea
The whitepaper reflects the context of 2016 and cites Barcelona’s 2014 commitment to work towards at least 50% self-sufficiency by 2054. This is a historical record of an ambition, not confirmation that the goal has been achieved. [1, PDF p. 4]
I find it most useful as a starting point for smaller trials: equipment that can be repaired; a workshop accessible to newcomers; a place where understanding needs leads to a prototype, and experience of using it feeds back into design.
These are the connections I want to explore further. Design can encompass an object, a way of learning and the conditions for collaboration — things that meet around the same table in practice.