Open Source Cities

how open source communities might inflect in the current thinking on ‘creative capital’ and urban revitalisation.

Project

"A global collection of the best ideas on the future of cities. Featuring in-depth interviews with visionary leaders and a survey of rich media content, Open Source Cities explores the discipline and tradition of open source collaboration as a model for systemic change in our collective urban present and future." [1]

See: http://www.opensourcecities.com/

Concept

Examples

Provided by Seth Keen:

the Digital Mile Project in Zaragoza, Spain, is described as an ‘open source city’ experiment. The project was undertaken in conjunction with MIT’s Smart Cities project.

"It was imagined that an open source approach to the development of content and use of digital media along the Mile would serve serveral purposes. It might help break down people’s fears of technology by being a means of technological capacity building. it might create a sense of ownership of the Mile for Zaragoza’s residents. Moreover, it might provide a means through which people could construct and reveal narratives about the city’s culture, functions and history. Of course, since the Mile will be a networked environment, remote development of content is also possible. That is to say, people could conceivably access, experience and contribute to the development of Zaragoza’s Digital Mile from anywhere in the world … Once articulated, such an open source concept seemed readily applicable to the design of urban places." (http://www.anat.org.au/stillopen/blog/2007/08/17/open-source-city/)