BLOCK T is an independent artistic enterprise based in Smithfield, Dublin 7 since 2010. It is founded on the belief that creativity enriches people’s lives.
BLOCK T aspires to influence societal change through cultural engagement.
From having only 12 artist studios, it has grown into a 26,000 square ft studio and workshop space with Hotdesks, Classrooms, Photography Darkroom, Meeting Rooms and over 70 creative studio spaces that currently house over 120 Members.
Over the past five years they have produced over 700 projects, workshops, events and exhibitions that have engaged with over 800 artists and Members. They have welcomed over 150,000 visitors to their buildings and the Smithfield area through their facilities, cultural programming and Skillsets, an alternative learning platform. Education is also central to their institution, for which they have mentored and consulted over 5,000 hours to students, creative individuals, businesses and organisations.
Collaboration is a cornerstone of their business strategy. They have collaborated with and facilitated local businesses, colleges, non for profits and other art and cultural organisations.
Credits: picture and logo from http://assoplanning.org/atelier-populaire-durbanisme-apu/
Country
France
City
Grenoble
Name
Ateliers Populaire d’Urbanisme and Urban Commons Working Group
Date
2012
Description of the project
The Atelier Populaire d’Urbanisme de la Villeneuve is an initiative launched in the Fall of 2012 by a citizens movement in order to build an alternative urban regeneration project in Villeneuve in the city of Grenoble.
Organized as a big working group that gathers the inhabitants of the neighborhood, it was created as a result of the refusal of the top-down planning practices of the City of Grenoble.
In 2013, many workshops have started to formulate a new democratic urban project. In the following years, the Ateliers have continued fighting to stop a certain number of contracts and deliberations passed by the old local administration and to design a new vision for the neighborhood. The APU organizes Urban Commons Working Group.
Moreover, on an effort to co-build the neighborhood, the association has organized meetings every week in order to discuss about monthly thematic subjects concerning the new development (housing, environment, cultural and sport activities etc.). The Ateliers plays a central role still today in the fight for a more democratic urban planning. Through workshops, conferences, festivals, and mobilizations, it engages with citizens demands and empowers neighborhoods in the face of big development projects that do not take into account the citizens’ demands.
The Gängeviertel is a complex in inner city Hamburg composed of 12 buildings. Once workers housing left abandoned for years, the buildings were sold to leave space for a new development. Citizens and activists mobilized in August 2009 and entered the Gängeviertel in order to save it from decay and demolition, showing that another future for the inner city was possible.
In 2010, citizens presented a proposal for the redevelopment and usage of the area to the City of Hamburg and they have been negotiating ever since.
An Association of the Gängeviertel has been officially established and and through the “Komm in die Gänge” (get in your gears) Initiative the cooperative “Gängeviertel eG” has been founded for the conservation of this historic quarter, in order to secure the future of this area independently from political changes.
The inner city complex has been visited by tens of thousands tourists, artists, and activists from all over the world, who attend the art exhibitions, concerts, love readings, and discussion organized in the Gängeviertel.
The aim of the initiative is to create in Hamburg’s downtown an area for the promotion of the arts, culture, and talks, both in studios, in apartments, or in social projects.
Urban Mill is an incubator for urban innovations located in Aalto University campus, on the periphery of Helsinki, as part of the Smart City movement in the Metropolitan Region of Helsinki.
Opened in 2013, Urban Mill is a former factory transformed into a large co-working and co-creation space. This platform brings together local and international research labs and start-ups working on projects related to the built environment, the ubiquitous and responsive city, urban services and urban life transformation. Here, innovation actors collaborate, test their prototypes, present their projects and debate with citizens, meet potential investors and much more.
(https://citiesintransition.eu/place/urban-mill)
Urban Mill brings urban developers together with residents and other users of the urban environment. Public and private sector institutions, researchers, new entrepreneurs and students have a place to share ideas with the users of the built environment. Urban Mill is a venue for events and a smart co-working space for entrepreneurs and developers. Simultaneously, Urban Mill is an innovation accelerator that is connected to other spaces needed by the community.
How does it work and who participates?
The main partners of the program are the City of Espoo and Aalto University. A private company is responsible for developing the Urban Mill concept, operating the space and arranging the services. To give you some numbers, during the pilot phase 2013-2014, 25,000+ people participated in 1,000+ registered events; 5,000+ visitors from Finland and Abroad; 500+ pioneers participated in development; 300+ organisations and projects as users; 50+ proto/demo/startups through Living lab process.
All in all, Urban Mill operations have involved a total of more than 50 000 participants, 1500 events, 1000 users, 500 organizations. Urban Mill has helped to experiment 100 prototypes and to increase its 50 start-up companies.
Fibre is a service that allows professionals in Lagos to live in quality homes and pay monthly. This is as opposed to the one / two year upfront rent payments that are the norm in Nigeria today. In some locations, they have introduced shared housing to create a more affordable option for young professionals.
With the payment of a membership it is allowed to live in the locations that they offer and pay monthly. It also means you can seamlessly move into another location, should your living requirements change.