Project type                                                             Citizen Engagement Network

Promoter                                                                  Barcelona City Council

Start date                                                                  2012

Estimated end                                                        Ongoing

Website                                                                    www.ajuntament.barcelona.cat/ateneusdefabricacio/

The Athenaeum of Digital Fabrication are spaces of collaboration, where citizens, universities, organizations and companies get involved in social innovation activities. They have the support of a Digital Fabrication Lab: a studio equipped with software and fabrication machines to transform their ideas and visions into physical and useful products for society.

The Athenaeums of Fabrication promote activities and projects that improve people’s wellbeing and quality of life. Using new models of organization and open source and online learning: collaboration, crowdfunding, crowdsourcing, co-creation, etc.

The excellence of the project is the exploitation of the available resources and the citizen engagement in all processes, which implies the training of people and the improvement of the whole society. There are currently three main programs underway, which are pedagogical, for families and for social innovation.

• 3 already existing athenaeums (les Corts, Ciutat Meridiana and la Fàbrica del Sol)
• 2 more athenaeums on the way to be opened (Parc Tecnològic and Gràcia)
• Co-creation and learning, linked to social innovation, new technologies and digital fabrication
• Local citizens are active users and main actors of the transformation and improvement of their environment
• Collaborative process following a model of sharing economy: “what is mine is yours, in exchange of a small return”