266
12 Digital Democracy
council encouraged the citizens to actively participate in land-use planning and
city budgeting.
Sustainability and new energy-saving technologies were a primary focus of the
planning strategy. In two new districts of Freiburg (namely, Rieselfeld and Vauban),
self-built and community architecture was created, which led to urban environments
conceived and designed by future inhabitants according to their own vision. Now,
Freiburg counts as a benchmark city. Its concepts of sustainable urban planning and
community participation are widely used by other cities all over the world.
So far, most urban planning professionals do not pay much attention to a long-term
involvement of citizens in urban development. With the ubiquity of information and
communication technologies, our cities are getting smarter, but not automatically
more inclusive, just, and democratic.
The application of Open Source principles to the co-creation of urban environments could overcome these problems by supporting active participation, technological pluralism, and diversity. Thereby, it would also avoid technological lock-ins
and dead-ends. The Open Source movement, which started with opening software
(see the example of GitHub
96 ) now promotes the co-production of open content
(Wikipedia,
97 OpenStreetMap
98 ), Open Hardware
99 (3D-printer RepRap), and even
open architecture
100 (WikiHouse). Open Source Urbanism would be the next logical
step of this Open Source trend.
In 2011, Saskia Sassen (*1947) wrote:
“I see in Open Source a DNA that resonates strongly with how people make
the city theirs or urbanize what might be an individual initiative. And yet, it
stays so far away from the city. I think that it will require making. We need
to push this urbanizing of technologies to strengthen horizontal practices and
initiatives.”
101
Yochai Benkler (*1964) argues that Open Source projects indicate the beginning
of a social, technological, organizational and economic transformation of society
towards a new mode of production.
102 This new mode, called commons-based
peer production, is a collective activity of volunteers, usually coordinated via the
Internet, producing free-to-use knowledge. Open Source Urbanism, as a new way of
urban development, would therefore build on concepts such as Open Innovation and
commons-based peer production.
96 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GitHub.
97 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia.
98 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenStreetMap.
99 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_hardware.
100 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_architecture.
101 S. Sassen, Open Source Urbanism, Domus (2011) http://www.domusweb.it/en/op-ed/2011/06/
29/open-source-urbanism.html. (accessed on November 16, 2016)
102 Benkler [39].
12 Digital Democracy
council encouraged the citizens to actively participate in land-use planning and
city budgeting.
Sustainability and new energy-saving technologies were a primary focus of the
planning strategy. In two new districts of Freiburg (namely, Rieselfeld and Vauban),
self-built and community architecture was created, which led to urban environments
conceived and designed by future inhabitants according to their own vision. Now,
Freiburg counts as a benchmark city. Its concepts of sustainable urban planning and
community participation are widely used by other cities all over the world.
So far, most urban planning professionals do not pay much attention to a long-term
involvement of citizens in urban development. With the ubiquity of information and
communication technologies, our cities are getting smarter, but not automatically
more inclusive, just, and democratic.
The application of Open Source principles to the co-creation of urban environments could overcome these problems by supporting active participation, technological pluralism, and diversity. Thereby, it would also avoid technological lock-ins
and dead-ends. The Open Source movement, which started with opening software
(see the example of GitHub
96 ) now promotes the co-production of open content
(Wikipedia,
97 OpenStreetMap
98 ), Open Hardware
99 (3D-printer RepRap), and even
open architecture
100 (WikiHouse). Open Source Urbanism would be the next logical
step of this Open Source trend.
In 2011, Saskia Sassen (*1947) wrote:
“I see in Open Source a DNA that resonates strongly with how people make
the city theirs or urbanize what might be an individual initiative. And yet, it
stays so far away from the city. I think that it will require making. We need
to push this urbanizing of technologies to strengthen horizontal practices and
initiatives.”
101
Yochai Benkler (*1964) argues that Open Source projects indicate the beginning
of a social, technological, organizational and economic transformation of society
towards a new mode of production.
102 This new mode, called commons-based
peer production, is a collective activity of volunteers, usually coordinated via the
Internet, producing free-to-use knowledge. Open Source Urbanism, as a new way of
urban development, would therefore build on concepts such as Open Innovation and
commons-based peer production.
96 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GitHub.
97 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia.
98 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenStreetMap.
99 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_hardware.
100 See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_architecture.
101 S. Sassen, Open Source Urbanism, Domus (2011) http://www.domusweb.it/en/op-ed/2011/06/
29/open-source-urbanism.html. (accessed on November 16, 2016)
102 Benkler [39].