Making (in) the smart city: The emergence of makerspaces

•We explore the role of makerspaces as part of the sharing economy.•Their innovation, learning and community building potential is discussed.•A commons-oriented approach for the smart city is proposed.•The proposed vision could offer a viable alternative towards a more democratic city. Critical appr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inTelematics and informatics Vol. 34; no. 7; pp. 1143 - 1152
Main Authors Niaros, Vasilis, Kostakis, Vasilis, Drechsler, Wolfgang
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.11.2017
Elsevier Science Ltd
Subjects
Building automation
Communities
Innovations
Learning
Makerspaces
Sharing economy
Smart cities
Smart city
Technology adoption
Technology governance
Urban communities
Learning
Makerspaces
Urban communities
Smart city
Technology governance
Sharing economy
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Summary:•We explore the role of makerspaces as part of the sharing economy.•Their innovation, learning and community building potential is discussed.•A commons-oriented approach for the smart city is proposed.•The proposed vision could offer a viable alternative towards a more democratic city. Critical approaches to the smart city concept are used to begin highlighting the promises of makerspaces, that is to say, those emerging urban sites that promote sharing practices; exercise community-based forms of governance; and utilize local manufacturing technologies. A bird’s-eye-view of the history of makerspaces is provided tracing their roots back to the hacker movement. Drawing from secondary sources, their community-building, learning and innovation potential is briefly discussed. Makerspaces, this essay argues, can serve as hubs and vehicles for citizen-driven transformation and, thus, play a key part in a more inclusive, participatory and commons-oriented vision of the smart city.
ISSN:0736-5853
1879-324X
DOI:10.1016/j.tele.2017.05.004