Design Principles for Developing Open Source Urbanism

Abstract

In Open Source Urbanism (OSU) citizens self-organize and create Do-It-Yourself (DIY) urban designs to address societal problems. Self-organized citizens develop these designs, but there is no support for the design process based on the co-creation and involvement of citizens. The latter are mainly non-experts. Three aspects characterize OSU: (1) OSU initiatives are initialized by citizens; (2) OSU initiatives are the new commons, are collectively created and managed by self-organized citizens; (3) to last, DIY should be accepted by or co-produced with the authorities as they can change the urban environment. This research offers a set of design principles to guide the cultivation of OSU infrastructures in the self-organized setting of urban commons. We derived the principles from an ethnographic study of an Amsterdam-based citizen initiative. This paper offers a set of design principles to guide the cultivation of OSU infrastructures in the self-organized setting of the urban commons. We introduce eight design principles: (1) Co-creation, (2) Trust-building, (3) Motivating, (4) Growing, (5) Showcasing, (6) Bridging, (7) Open-sourcing, and (8) Peer Production. By promoting self-organized, community-led development, our design principles offer guidelines for urban commons communities, academics, and decision-makers to work towards a shared vision of the future of inclusive cities. Building trust and gaining access to expertise are key aspects of OSU cultivation.