The Maker Movement and its relationship with contexts of socioeconomic inequality: a Fab Lab Livre SP Network case study

Abstract

The aim of this article is to analyze and discuss the implementation of the Fab Lab Livre SP Network, a public network of digital fabrication laboratories located in the city of São Paulo, in a context of large popularization of the Maker Movement and its premises of technological democratization. Based on quantitative user data and on-site experience acquired through a practical workshop, results show different processes of digital fabrication technology appropriation according to the territorial distribution of these public Fab Labs -which include extremely vulnerable places, such as slums. Considering the heterogeneity of urban and social conditions found in São Paulo, the proposed discussion here situates digital fabrication technologies and the Maker Movement from a socioeconomic inequality perspective, typical of Latin American countries.