Nikolas Kichler and David Steinwender have been awarded with a Honorary Mention for "City of Workshops".

The proliferating trend of digital and network-based sharing rests on an increasing orientation towards individual needs and the resulting initiatives with a community spirit. The resulting added value, however, also inspires persons who are not involved and who are more interested in profit than in community. In order to counteract this trend, the project “City of Workshops” tries to design a local counter-model based on personal contacts, in the sense of a workshop or DIY culture, designing social relationships (commons) and offering space and a safe framework for exchange in return. The principles of workshop culture, which also requires studying the culture of conflict, mistakes and feedback, include openness, transparency, self-organisation, inclusion, iteration and the orientation towards needs (rather than profit-orientation). A particular emphasis is on sustainable activation and responsibility of the protagonists, the individual contribution and pooling of talents and abilities of the individuals, and on the non-commercial character of the proposed barter and solidarity economy. From a spatial point of view, the project focuses on shared, and thus more efficient, use of specialised spaces and facilities. Any kind of urban area (such as parking spaces, terraces or living rooms) is a potential “unit” and can form part of the CoW network, with its owner’s consent. Workshops as open spaces of possibility can be dedicated to multiple topics, in different regularities, forms and levels of commitment.

City of Workshops | Posters