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From FUTURESPOTTERS

to FUTURE STRUCTURES

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Engaging citizens as an open consultation

edgeryders.eu/futurespotters

circa 100 registered online
>40 posts and wikis; +220 comments
5 offline events
35 participants in International workshop (9-10 July)

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2. Building a participatory workshop

-open to everyone: Bucharest, Brasov, Cluj, Athens, Brussels..

-free of charge, not free-as-in-beer: people contribute by taking on specific tasks

-crowdsourced agenda: participants propose the sessions

-document projects before people meet in a room!

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What is coming out of it?

The need for alternative ecosystems to work together:

Project incubation for sustainability: e.g. durable hackathons to tap into diverse pool of skills

Platforms for civic ownership: platforms for participatory democracy; citizen science projects; community owned spaces etc.

Network support:

with resources for coordination and care taking
with low costs of entry
without dropping own projects.

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How it feeds into Bucharest ECOC 2021?

A massive participatory exercise with 3 components:

1. Physical infrastructure

2. Digital infrastructure

3. Knowledge exchange & mobility

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=> Europe’s Biggest Laboratory

for Collective Experimentation

With EdgeRyders we’ve been working in European countries already –Gender equality, education, waste and pollution, unemployment etc- these are issues that concern people interesting in making change. The problems are similar, what differs is the way they are handled.. For example handling gentrification in cities where artists and creatives are raising the value of private assets but they are not legally protected (rent control anyone?).

The definition of what needs to be done has to be a participatory exercise.

=> How to work together? We need new forms of collectivity: New forms of co-living, co-working, space ownership, collaborative governance, community supported financing models. Prototyping not just projects, but processes. It’s not about quick fixes but about deep thinking and trying things out, iterating.

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Bucharest in a global conversation