I first heard the word “makerspace” when Alex Bandar made a presentation to the Columbus Metropolitan Club about The Idea Foundry (see photo above).
https://www.ideafoundry.com/
Alex was passionate about the benefits of creating a space where makers, broadly defined, can have access to tools — from woodworking to welding, art media to communication technologies, to 3D printers and everything in between.
Chelsea Wiley publishes the Columbus Navigator website and she identified five makerspaces in Columbus, where anyone with an idea for a project can access the tools and join a supportive community of creators and collaborators. That’s where the magic happens. Find her article about 5 Columbus makerspaces here:
https://www.columbusnavigator.com/makerspaces-columbus-ohio/
Chelsea writes that “The Idea Foundry boasts that it’s the largest of its kind on the planet and the fact that it’s 65,000 square feet makes it a believable claim.” For a monthly fee, members get 24 hour access. Classes range from the fine arts to electronics to blacksmithing.
The Idea Foundry is in a class by itself, and has earned their props. They are at the top of a sprawling new ecosystem of makerspaces that has grown to several thousand all around the world. They all include access to tools and media but are highly diverse, ranging from hacker-based gatherings to groups that focus on learning DIY skills and knowledge, and others that connect directly with their community hosts and support entrepreneurs and economic development. Some are commercial, and others nonprofit. Alex Bandar often consults with new makerspaces to share his insights on what is possible.
Makerspaces and Transition Towns? What’s the connection?
For readers who do not know about Rob Hopkins, the permaculture designer who founded the first Transition Town in England and has written several books about the process of reinventing communities from the ground up, here is the Wikipedia introduction:
The terms transition town, transition initiative and transition model refer to grassroot community projects that aim to increase self-sufficiency to reduce the potential effects of peak oil,[1] climate destruction, and economic instability[2] through renewed localization strategies, especially around food production and energy usage.[3] In 2005, the founding of Transition Town Totnes in the United Kingdom became an inspiration for other groups to form. The Transition Network charity was founded in early 2007, to support these projects. A number of the groups are officially registered with the Transition Network.[4] Transition initiatives have been started in locations around the world, with many located in the United Kingdom and others in Europe, North America and Australia.[2][5] While the aims remain the same, Transition initiatives’ solutions are specific depending on the characteristics of the local area.[6]
More information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_town#
Transition communities encompass many strategies that address local food systems, renewable energy, transit alternatives to cars, and policies that encourage entrepreneurs and locally owned businesses. The emergence of makerspaces has occurred in parallel and alongside transition work and can be an asset to spur innovation, especially in struggling urban neighborhoods and small towns serving rural communities that have been hard hit by globalization and the closure or local manufacturing plants.
I am a founding board member of Simply Living in Columbus (1992). We have served as a “hub” in the U.S. Transition Network by providing outreach and support to local community and neighborhood groups focused on sustainability. I currently participate in an effort to design a “Rural Resilient Hub” and in that work it has become very clear that makerspaces can play an essential role in revitalizing communities.
Makerspaces Can Offer Diversity of Class and Race in Transition Work
It’s no secret that environmentalists and community activists are mostly white. Environmental justice issues are being given more attention now, and that’s all to the good, but the advocacy work of sustainability, localization, and eco-aware policies and practices remains predominantly white.
Makerspaces offer a new space that can attract working class people who value making, building, and creating things as well as middle class folks who want to learn those skills. More importantly, the opportunity to meet, share, and learn together can begin to build a community of people who are largely segregated by economic status. We value equality, but our communities and churches and workplaces are rarely integrated. When is the last time you, dear reader, socialized with anyone who dropped out of high school? who serves you at the places where you eat or shop? or went to a movie with someone of another racial or ethnic culture?
No guilt, please. The beauty of making things, acquiring a new skill, using a 3D printer is unrelated to our social circles. The makerspace makes it possible to bond around the process and allows for the organic formation of a new community.
Transition Initiatives and Makerspaces Are Co-Creating Our Future
The past two decades have spawned the emergence of these two worldwide trends. They are now merging to strengthen and amplify their work to reimagine and reinvent communities from the bottom up. Small groups of people are finding each other to make a difference where they live, work, and play. Transition Initiatives are the visionaries who see the need to reverse the unsustainable trajectory of the consumer culture. By joining with the makers and entrepreneurs in their community, we are seeing the results:
> farmers markets, 4 season gardening, hemp farming:
> buy local campaigns and new businesses selling locally made arts and crafts;
> coffee roasters selling local ice cream;
> micro breweries hosting local event spaces:
> new and used bookstores, thrift shops, vegan friendly diners;
> local wifi providers, 3D printing services, repair cafes
Interested in starting a makerspace? Link to the Makerspace Playbook:
https://makered.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Makerspace-Playbook-Feb-2013.pdf
