Encounters in the hybrid city
Encounters in the hybrid city
The digital and the physical spaces are more and more intertwined, they become hybrid, and the same holds for the power structures that shape their form and use. This means that activists claiming the rights of citizens in both domains have a lot to learn from each other's practices, challenges, and expertise, but also can support each other's agenda through various forms of collaboration.
The netCommons project collaborates with the MAZI project in organizing a series of gatherings, or encounters, that bring together people from the digital and urban rights movements in an informal and playful way. There is no other agenda but to raise awareness between digital and urban activists for each other's challenges, tactics, and lessons learned. The format varies depending on the context and the available resources and time.
Zurich, May 25th, 2018
A new "encounter" is being organized in the context of a wider workshop on cooperative housing in Zurich, titled "Cooperative technology and the right to the hybrid city"
Berlin, May 13th, 2018
The Berlin Encounter takes place in the context of the "battle of the mesh", a major event in the Community Networks scene, returning in 2018 to the famous C-base, one of the CN scene's birthplace back in the early 2000s,
C-base is 10min walk from a key location for the right to the city movement in Berlin, the Prinzessinnengarten, which hosts in a very central node of the city a wide variety of activities and organizations. Its wooden structure "die Laube" is both a symbol and a visible functional space for hosting events and workshops on various topics related to the right to the city movement. Moreover, die Laube is the base of one of the MAZI project's pilots run by the UdK's Design Research Lab and the Neighbourhood Academy.
The encounter will take place in both locations, starting at the C-base on Sunday 13th, at the end of the 7-day long battle of the mesh, including statements by all participants allowing to get to know better each other (what is the battle of the mesh? what is the prinzessinnengarten? what are the current challenges/tactics of urban and digital activists?), and/or positions on the question "how we can enable more synergies between the two spheres of local action?"
After this introductory round, we will all move to the Prinzessinnengarten, and more specifically Die Laube for a relaxed networking reception to continue the discussion in smaller groups.
Heraklion, March 31, 2018
The first encounter in the hybrid city took place in Heraklion, in the context of national-wide festival on the commons, the CommonsFest.
The encounter took place at the Parko Georgiadi, a park that is under reconversion by the municipality without any consultation or any form of participatory process. Various local organizations and individuals united under the label "The tribes of the park" and claim their right to co-create this vital space of their city. The CommonsFest brought to Heraklion commoners from all over Greece, and especially in the field of digital commons, since the festival was organized by a recent alliance of more than 10 organizations active in this area. So, the CommonsFest included a 3hour session at the Park where the digital and other commoners interacted with the park's "tribes" around a demo installation of a MAZI Zone.
