Paper short abstract:

Makerspaces are becoming the iconic architectural and institutional space of the sharing economy. However, what kind of sharing/industrial city do they prefigure? This paper unpacks the role of makerspaces in prefiguring prefiguring urban futures and whose city is produced.

Paper long abstract:

Spaces of digital fabrication (hackerspaces, makerspaces or fablabs) have exponentially grown around cities across the world. These spaces are challenging traditional ways of producing and innovating economically, politically and socially by implementing peer-to-peer open innovation and digital fabrication practices. In this regard, makerspaces are becoming the iconic architectural and institutional space of the sharing economy and new industrial futures (Holman, 2015; Tham et al 2014; Aygeman and McLaren, 2015; Gutierrez 2016). However, what kind of sharing/industrial city do they prefigure? What is the role of digital fabrication in remaking postindustrial cities? And more importantly, does it mean a more egalitarian, bottom-up cities? Or in contrast, reinforces current techno-dystopias such as the Smart City?

These questions are explored through the study of Barcelona's makerspaces and urban policies supporting the sharing economy. In recent years, Barcelona has embraced sharing, makers and re-industrialising the economy as means to re-invent the city future. This trend has been further strengthened by the arrival in power of a left coalition with a program of enhancing alternative economies such as the sharing economy and peer production. Supported by semi-structured interviews with relevant actors, newspaper library research and analysis of blueprints and reports, the paper draws on Castoriadis' (1987) concept of radical imaginary to unpack the role of makerspaces in prefiguring urban futures and whose city is produced.