Engaged by design: the role of emerging collaborative infrastructures for social development. Roma makers as a case study

We are living in a moment of radical change. The environmental and economic crisis have been undermining the strength of democratic societies, causing, mainly in western communities, a widespread sense of alienation and insecurity. By the way, new social structures are emerging from bottom-up initiatives, as a response to the lack of good political practices. These actions often reveal themselves as strong creative think tanks; they play a key role in the decision-making process concerning commons and contribute to the definition of the community identity, by acting as connectors between both social and environmental factors. Founded in 2012 by a group of young people from different backgrounds, Roma Makers has been the first fab lab in Rome, Italy, and in the last four years, it has grown in terms of network and community. Started from scratch, with limited economic resources and during a peak of the Italian economic and political crisis, Roma Makers has been able to build a bridge between citizens and authorities, using the global innovation network as a mean to join different urban realities. With the direction of four public labs widespread among the Lazio Region, several mini-labs in public schools, the collaboration with trade associations, universities and high educational centers, together with the organisation of several technological events, Roma Makers has built an active infrastructure of knowledge focused on the empowerment of citizens in technological innovation and digital manufacturing. The infrastructure operates at different levels of society and creates a connection between professionals, students, hobbyists, urban associations, companies and institutions so that they can meet and share projects and ideas. This new layer of knowledge is expanding from a very local scale (the neighbourhood of Garbatella in Rome) to the Lazio Region area, and it allows local economies to be developed by giving access to innovative and advanced manufacturing machines and processes. In this system, a new role of design is emerging and changing the linear relationship client/designer/user with collaborative networks that generate an open knowledge repository, in which everyone is included and can contribute by finding the most suitable field to share one’s skills. The knowledge ecosystem fosters the encounter between local know-how and innovation, creating new markets and encouraging new economies. In 2015 Roma Makers has expanded by becoming an incubator for two start-ups that connect the infrastructure with two important economic sectors: design firms and arts, introducing digital manufacturing tools and networked design into the industry process. This scenario leads to a new concept of participatory design as a tool for an active engagement of individuals in the development of their communities. The current paper will analyse how the new collaborative design and production processes emerging from the Roma Makers Infrastructure is contributing to building a sustainable and inclusive social ecosystem. The research will highlight the peculiar urban context in which it develops and focuses on how a self-generating network of knowledge based on a peer-to-peer system can be a key agent to enhance civic engagement for urban development.