Abelhas, drones e outras Coisas no espaço público: fazendo estratégias na cidade

Abstract

In this article we explore some emerging strategizing practices that citizens use for the development of their immediate urban fabric. We make use of our experiences and engagements with two citizen-driven initiatives in Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The first case attempts to rethink uses and actors of public space by creating viable conditions for the emergence of urban gardening in public spaces. The second initiative is engaged in a political discussion of the boundaries of participation, cultural appropriation and ownership of city space. We discuss and reflectively analyze some of their strategizing practices, as forms of infrastructuring, commoning and patchworking. The cases shed light on forms of designing that are enacted collectively through mobilizing particular concerns and caring approaches. We conclude by highlighting aspects made visible in the cases that can give a sense of direction for exercising forms of continuous, open-ended design that are attentive to the collective construction of Things. ResumoNeste artigo, exploramos algumas práticas estratégicas emergentes que os cidadãos utilizam para o desenvolvimento do tecido urbano ao seu redor. Usamos nossas experiências e engajamento em duas iniciativas lideradas pelos cidadãos em Helsinki, capital da Finlândia. O primeiro caso é relativo às tentativas de repensar os usos e os atores do espaço público através da criação das condições de viabilidade para o surgimento de jardinagem urbana em espaços públicos. A segunda iniciativa faz parte de uma discussão política dos limites de participação, apropriação cultural e do espaço da cidade. Discutimos e analisamos algumas de suas práticas estratégicas, como formas de infraestrutura, commoning e patchworking. Os casos lançam luz sobre as formas de fazer design que são realizadas coletivamente através da mobilização em torno de preocupações específicas e por meio de abordagens de cuidado. Concluímos destacando aspectos tornados visíveis nos casos que podem indicar um caminho para desenvolver processos de design contínuos, open-ended que focam na construção coletiva das Coisas.

Participatory Design Theory

“…Photos have also been used to document subtler aspects of the initiatives, beside logistics and rules. In the case of the KUG there is a growing bank of images that document the joys of gardening, the outcomes that can be expected, and even the invisible roles other actors play in the initiative -like for example bees -(see Marttila and Botero 2016). More sophisticated practices related to the use of photos, such as the ones reported in White et al (2014), were not visible in our cases.…”

Infrastructuring urban commons over time

“…Commons can thus be understood as collaborative arrangements for value production processes that are based on participatory principles. The collaborative and participatory nature of commons resonates well with co-design aspirations [20], and in recent years, several co-design researchers have been exploring commons in theory and in practice [20,22,23,24,33,34,35,39,40,41]. In some of these explorations, commons are proposed as a possible new utopia for Participatory Design [39].…”

“…In recent years, the participatory design /co-design 1 community has been increasingly interested in notions of commons and commoning. This interest has arisen from the engagement of codesigners with commons and new commons [28,14], meaning the shared resources which are used in (and in some cases, generated through) collaborative forms of value production, for example, cultural commons [21,22,24], digital commons [40,41], commons-based production, [33] and urban commons [34,23]. Commons represent an alternative way to organize the property of and access to resources beyond the private and public model [28].…”