ABOUT THE PRODUCTIVE CITY - SHAWEI

Background & Concept

In most global cities the industries have fled or been chased out of the city and now new models of production are being invited and emerging in urban areas. This separation of living and making has a negative effect on jobs, knowledge, and awareness of cultural production for the city and the community. The movement manifested into the Fab City initiative.

WHAT IS A FAB CITY?

A FAB CITY IS A NEW URBAN MODEL FOR LOCALLY PRODUCTIVE AND GLOBALLY CONNECTED SELF SUFFICIENT CITIES.

In a Fab City, citizens are empowered to be the masters of their own destiny, their resilience is increased and a more ecological system is developed because movement of materials and energy consumption is drastically reduced. The Fab City has been initiated by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, the MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms and the Fab Foundation; it operates within the Fab Lab network, using it as a global infrastructure and knowledge source for the radical transformation on how we work, live and play in cities.

2015

FAB11 INTERNATIONAL FAB LAB CONFERENCE

• The Fab City becomes a global initiative
• The cities of Boston, Ekurhuleni, Cambridge, Shenzhen, Somerville join
• The state of Kerala (India) joins
• The country of Georgia joins

2016

SHENZHEN

• 12th International Fab Lab Conference
• More cities will join the Fab City global initiative

Mission & Value

In order for this to be possible, the city must be locally productive and globally connected to knowledge, economic, and social networks making. This will make cooperation between cities, citizens, and knowledge centers the basis of the scientific knowledge. With all of this implemented, Shawei will be a productive city, which other cities can model after.

Shawei

The first village where the idea of a productive city will be implemented. Our goal of transforming Shawei into a productive city will involve creating a FAB Lab in the heart of the village. Due to the vast selection of factory shops, we believe in the potential of Shawei becoming a productive city in the near future.

Having a FAB Lab will enable entrepreneurs and innovators to design and produce right in the village very quickly. This promotes sustainable production since there will be no need to manufacture products elsewhere. With this goal in mind, we have created a workshop for students to help make this goal a reality.