The value of a makerspace: cultural (re-)production and the making of a city
Coming to prominence in the early 2000s, makerspaces have become a popular strategy for community development, neighborhood vitalization and education initiatives. However, challenges in defining and communicating the value of makerspaces limit their inclusion in policy and community development ini...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Informa UK Limited
2024
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/156266 |
| _version_ | 1826213152590659584 |
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| author | Debowski, James Campo, Dan Ryan, Brent D. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning Debowski, James Campo, Dan Ryan, Brent D. |
| author_sort | Debowski, James |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Coming to prominence in the early 2000s, makerspaces have become a popular strategy for community development, neighborhood vitalization and education initiatives. However, challenges in defining and communicating the value of makerspaces limit their inclusion in policy and community development initiatives. This article fuses approaches from urban design, planning and cultural anthropology to outline a novel approach to understanding the value of a makerspace. We argue that makerspaces can help to (re)produce the unique culture and character of their host communities. This study surveyed 43 makerspaces in the Northeast of the United States, identifying four broad typologies categorizing how makerspaces relate to their socio-material contexts. We look to these typologies to identify commonalities and differences in the ways that makerspaces contribute to and are shaped by their host communities. Our study offers a community-centered approach to valorizing makerspaces. These findings have implications for future policy, social investment and community development initiatives. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:44:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/156266 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-02-19T04:24:45Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | Informa UK Limited |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1562662025-01-03T04:17:12Z The value of a makerspace: cultural (re-)production and the making of a city Debowski, James Campo, Dan Ryan, Brent D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning Coming to prominence in the early 2000s, makerspaces have become a popular strategy for community development, neighborhood vitalization and education initiatives. However, challenges in defining and communicating the value of makerspaces limit their inclusion in policy and community development initiatives. This article fuses approaches from urban design, planning and cultural anthropology to outline a novel approach to understanding the value of a makerspace. We argue that makerspaces can help to (re)produce the unique culture and character of their host communities. This study surveyed 43 makerspaces in the Northeast of the United States, identifying four broad typologies categorizing how makerspaces relate to their socio-material contexts. We look to these typologies to identify commonalities and differences in the ways that makerspaces contribute to and are shaped by their host communities. Our study offers a community-centered approach to valorizing makerspaces. These findings have implications for future policy, social investment and community development initiatives. 2024-08-20T21:08:35Z 2024-08-20T21:08:35Z 2024 2024-08-20T20:58:43Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/156266 Debowski, J., Campo, D., & Ryan, B. (2024). The value of a makerspace: cultural (re-)production and the making of a city. Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, 1–23. en 10.1080/17549175.2024.2319028 Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ application/pdf Informa UK Limited Informa |
| spellingShingle | Debowski, James Campo, Dan Ryan, Brent D. The value of a makerspace: cultural (re-)production and the making of a city |
| title | The value of a makerspace: cultural (re-)production and the making of a city |
| title_full | The value of a makerspace: cultural (re-)production and the making of a city |
| title_fullStr | The value of a makerspace: cultural (re-)production and the making of a city |
| title_full_unstemmed | The value of a makerspace: cultural (re-)production and the making of a city |
| title_short | The value of a makerspace: cultural (re-)production and the making of a city |
| title_sort | value of a makerspace cultural re production and the making of a city |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/156266 |
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