Bringing back the creativity

Analysing the history of Hoboken and the current entrepreneurial spirit within the neighbourhood, one can see that this district has a strong active and creative backbone. Therefore, I believe the site must fulfil the needs of these makers, thinkers and designers. Next to that, the community feeling and need for common organisation and activities, also reflects in the temporary settlement of the Blikfabriek. This strengthens the need for a community-centred design that includes each individual, also in a long-term design strategy.Therefore, I chose a structure within the site that has the possibilities to cover a program which is based on these principles. This specific structure must be flexible, close to the centre of the perimeter and easily accessible from all directions.

Function-wise, the building operates as a dual motor. On one hand, public functions such as a coffee bar, social hub and day-care are serving the community and neighbourhood. Next to being useful, these functions must be located in a way that they stimulate social interaction. On the other hand, urban farming and up cycling principles can be applied within this building, in order to create a circular economy. Ranging from a material library, including a specific toy department, to a community scale-up cycling factory, used materials will be essential within the productivity of the project. In order to coordinate all operations taking place within the project, a blockchain based dashboard must fulfil all digital-steered demands. This regards planning, smart contracts, governance rights, forums, tokens,..

 

Loopy diagrams

By creating Loopy diagrams on the same scale as the project focus, these diagrams can be applied to the project. We used urban farming and an up-cycling mechanism as main engines of the economic system (see Figure C and D). These two examples both start from second hand or discarded resources with low value and make an end product out of it. To create value, the project coordinates infrastructure and offers services such as a nursery, a coffee bar, a social hub and makerspaces. These services can be accessed by the whole neighbourhood. Combining production with the public good, a system occurs in which the community's welfare is directly affected by the amount of activity. Implementing a non-extractable token, all members of the community will directly benefit from all effort an input, using a virtual reflection of the whole system on the dashboard.

By considering 3 different approaches to get the economic activities started, the Loopy diagrams can start a loop:

  1. implementing utility tokens
  2. human input
  3. investment in euro

Two engines

First of all, the urban farming is an accessible economic model, meaning there are not too many technicalities when starting. This however, could change once there are resources to expand and for example invest in hydroponics or an additional egg-farm. People are mainly accountable for the value of the economy. The farmed products can be used by inhabitants, the coffee bar, the nursery, but also by people living outside the administrative boundaries of the site. As visualised in purple, the dashboard connects the flows, for example being important in the governance system deciding on investments. Secondly, the upcycling process is somehow more complex, but also accessible. The outdated idea of dropping off everything at the recycling park and outsourcing all up- and recycling in exchange for payment, can be replaced by a transparent in-house process.
We propose a system to up-cycle discarded plastic objects. This process consists of different steps (visualised in orange), that must be planned and sequenced:

1. collection of material
2. sorting
3. cleaning
4. shredding
5. melting
6. moulding
7. cooling
8. controlling
9. finishing
10. assembly
11. packaging/exhibition
12. distribution

Growth

We will refer to these three approaches as the starting conditions for the system.

Firstly, implementing utility tokens (which would mean creating a starting capital of the community's token), is a first approach. This way community members are being encouraged to contribute to the local economy and support small businesses.

Secondly, starting from human input means counting on community volunteers. This requires a committed community with individuals who are capable of running a local business and are willing to invest time, before having capital to reward extern individuals.

Lastly, investments in euro (providing an actual amount of money to start the economy), requires people willing to invest and they preferably must be part of the community, to accomplish a decentralised system.

The next section describes how urban farming and up-cycling have been used as main engines for the project.

The sequence is important and therefore needs a specific infrastructure. When designing this infrastructure, generalised and sequence-supportive dimensions were applied in order to create a flexible industrial structure within the project design. Next to the sequence, the technical processes need planning and feedback loops, for which the dashboard provides directions. This manifests itself for example in sending push notifications when a certain storage unit is full. Connected to the material up-cycling processes, there is also the opportunity to integrate a material library. This library has its own chain of redistribution, usage and re-collection. Both chains will need a real-time stock inventory, which must be transparent and can be consulted by all stakeholders. Both project engines are connected to the dashboard in order to make this transparency and follow-up possible. These dashboard components are introduced as purple parameters within all Loopy diagrams.

Using Loopy as a tool, the diagrams can be used interactively. By applying each starting conditions, one by one, we are able to observe the effect of these factors on the whole system. Expanding the system, for example by dividing the investments equally over several functions, will ask for an expansion of the infrastructure. By taking such factors into account, the ability occurs to make these architectural zones adaptable in terms of height and volume, for example.

At this point the surplus part of the diagram also becomes important. In this phase, the extra value created within the system can flow into improvement, which shows in yellow. Because of the fact that none of the profit is extractable, this can only be re-invested within the community, which will cause growth and possibilities for the whole site and its users.