Living in Gothenburg in 2035 by Anton Drachuk

BEING-TOGETHER, NATURALLY. Towards an alternative vision for Gothenburg

2035 “(…) initiating a process of negotiation with the given.“ — Mahmoud Keshavarz “Culture can be a catalyst for social transformation in any city, anywhere.“ — Theaster Gates “In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.“ — John Muir “The increase in loneliness goes hand in hand with the increase in urbanization (…).“ — Christiaan Fruneaux “Contrary to the received wisdom, global markets are not unregulated. They are regulated to produce inequality.“ — Kevin Watkins “Self-governance is the ability to govern (…) by assuming responsibility for individual and collective decisions and actions. — Gary Nelson Designed by “Nothing lasts“ (Emanuel Uitz, Dinara Zhurbaniyaz, Aaron Scheer and Anton Drachuk) in Gothenburg

“And everything started with an extensive dialogue with the people of Gothenburg…“

Concept behind the vision of “Being-together. Naturally.“ 1. Our “world”: In our imagined world, Gothenburg will be co-governed by a visionary left-wing party called “Believers“, as a counter reaction to the more and more growing right-populist movement around the globe. The disastrous consequences of a growth-based economy, with ever rising housing prices leading to an extreme shortage in affordable and attractive housing options, has led the city into crisis. The precarious inequality that the capitalistic system has been producing over time, hasresulted in dangerous tensions among social realities allocated in isolated areas, but also provoked various positive discussions around the topic of inclusion and exclusion, going along with discussions of how to solve segregation and gentrification. A fast-progressing automatization, going along with robotization and the shift from producing goods to producing services, has led many industries along the river into ruin. Industrial infrastructure has been left uncultivated as a result of the disindustrialization along the river-front. Due to the unacceptable situation in Gothenburg, the city decides to introduce the Basic Income, along with a long-term housing program for the whole city, starting with the water-front. Decentralized community hubs build the pillar of a new Gothenburg, leading to various micro-city-centers spread across the city.

Being the first municipality to introduce the Basic Income, following a long socialist tradition in Sweden, Gothenburg thrives towards becoming the leader of alternative innovations, driven by a strong creative community. The Homo Romanticus is taking over the city, almost magnetically attracting more and more like minded. Urbanization is on its peak, creating megacities as the new cornerstones of our glocal world. Gothenburg is expanding and more and more becoming the center for innovative city planning in Sweden. Generation Y is on the rise. Tribes such as the “Romantic Hipsters“, “Restless Freelancers“ and “Nature Lovers“ become part of the many faces Gothenburg has to offer. Fulfillment and meaning in life become first priority values. The city and its citizens claim nothing less than to change the world with local actions in an urban environment. Reconnection to nature and flourishing communities, while embracing diversity and individualism become central themes of the city. Starting point is always the creative re-imagination of the existent, combining heritage and modernity, technology and nature, business and people. Nothing less than “Making the world a better place“, becomes the motto of the newly introduced housing program.

2. Key signals: Needing to extract the most important signals that led us both to the creation of our world and the design of our 3 Housing concepts, from nearly a 100, we could identify a few key trends on a glocal scale. Three global signals have been key, namely inequality, urbanization and de-centralization, in addition to three local signals, namely re-vitalization of the existing, close community relation and the reconnection with nature. Rising social inequality, leading to the corrosion of society, increasing urbanization, resulting in the expansion and the empowerment of cities, and de-centralization, as part of the trending creation of local bubbles and hubs have been interwoven into the idea of decentralized open communities functioning as micro-city-centers

and accessible housing options. The active integration of nature into Gothenburg, the emphasize of co-working and -living, while creatively re-vitalizing industrial infrastructures, react to the local needs expressed in our extensive field-interviews. The need for reconnecting with nature in the urban landscape, while emphasizing personal relationships and modernly interpreting heritage, has been all part in our creation of a strong city identity, where citizens are fully committed in the restructuring of Gothenburg. Our identified, analyzed and re-imagined glocal signals and trends have come into existence through an intense design process, using a bunch of different design methods, as described at the end of our concept.

3. Flourishing communities as micro-city-centers: Base for our flourishing communities builds uncultivated industrial infrastructure, ranging from old factories to warehouses. The modern re-interpretation of the industrial in- and outside is turned into space where people live, work, meet, trade and learn. Old factories and warehouses along the river-front and across the city become community hubs, where urban life in a local environment can be practiced. Our community hubs are most of the times, at least partly, co-owned by its inhabitants and heavily subsidized by the municipality. Community hubs become the center of our local communities, attracting more and more creatives of all fields and social realities across the city. Affordable living, workshops with self-production and co-education, meeting and discussion spaces, recreation spaces, family spaces, small food markets, cafes and restaurants, galleries and small retail shops

will be all in one place. Students will live right next to entrepreneurial workshop owners, cafe owners work right next to gallery owners, designers meet with techies and landscape architects to discuss the latest greening projects in Gothenburg, children playing with their mothers and fathers, micro-politicians relaxing in cozy comfort zones, and youngsters mixing their selfmade smoothies from the urban farming space around the corner. Our community hubs will attract more of these projects in the nearby areas, generating various micro-city-centers spread all over Gothenburg. It is the modern re-interpretation of a balance between industry, nature and its people, aiming towards creating new creative and humanitarian jobs, where inclusion and diversity become the first-oder higher purpose of most of the city’s citizens.

4. Housing concepts (I, II, III): I. “Be authentic“: “Be authentic“ consists out of flexible and thus movable modulars that can be easily stacked on one another, in various dimensions and forms. The flexibility and accessibility of the modulars allows to build on existing industrial infrastructure, such as factories and warehouses, both integrable in the interior and exterior of industrial buildings, and enables housing for all social realities. Starting point is most of the times our community hubs, where other housing options such as “be flexible“ and “be natural“ are naturally integrated. Community hubs are co-owned by all involved stakeholders. Modulars can be owned individually. Financial speculation will be prevented by a defined limit on housing prices. Non-monetary sharing of modulars becomes natural part of the community life concept. The tribe of the urban “Romantic Hipsters“ are mostly attracted by our housing option “be authentic“, as they believe in community based and multi-disciplinary co-living and co-working that focuses on inclusion, co-ownership and self-production. One of the main challenges with “be authentic“ will be not to unconsciously create gentrification hubs, but inclusion hubs.

II. “Be flexible“: “Be flexible“ consists out of small capsules, where the main objective is to use available and affordable space in the most efficient way possible. Our capsules are most of the times integrated into our multiplicity hubs, but not restricted to exist independently in our communities. “Be flexible“ aims towards “Restless Freelancers“, such as international students, project managers, freelancers and researchers, who are always on the move and need short-term and cheap housing options. Our capsules can be rented for affordable prices directly from the municipality. One of the main challenges with “be flexible“ will be to integrate the tribe of the “Restless Freelancers“ into our local micro-city-centers, in order to better identify with the city. III. “Be natural“: “Be natural“ consists out of “living“ buildings that co-habit with green spaces, mostly dominated by forest. People, nature, buildings and animals will be living together in a natural balance. The natural life-cycle of all buildings is deeply respected and reflects the harmonious relationship of all living existences. Not all green spaces will be repurposed for housing.

Parallel to the repurposing of green spaces, natural reservations will still exist and be strategically expanded, together with the overall re-greening and naturalization of urban areas in Gothenburg. As ground in the forest cannot be owned, the spaces will be rented. However, the concept of rent is not based on monetary systems. The space is allowed to be occupied on the grounds that “Nature Lovers“ build the houses themselves in cooperation with city planners, architects and designers. Moreover,

the space is given only on the condition that citizens take due care of their surroundings and respect the nature. Recycled and repurposed natural and industrial material, easily accessible and affordable, will be mainly used for the “living” buildings that have their own lifespan. One of the main challenges with “be natural” is to keep the natural balance between people, buildings and nature, while creating a well-balanced co-existence of natural reservations, parks and repurposed green spaces.

5. Vision and mission: Our vision for Gothenburg is “Being-together, naturally.” “Being-together“ in this respect means being-together in diversity. Inclusion of different social realities, while respecting and enabling different lifestyles becomes state-ofthe-art. “Being-together“ does not mean to force community living, but rather to navigate between the worlds of individualism and community relations. “Naturally“ in this respect means supporting the true nature of all citizens, while strategically integrating nature into the urban landscape, through extensively re-greening public spaces, as well as the exterior and interior of buildings. Our mission goes as followed: “Göteborgs Stad is a creative, open and visionary organization aimed at developing a Gothenburg that is united in its diversity. Together, we thrive to improve the lives of all citizens. Through strategically

co-designed city planning, we bring back together nature, technology, business and people. Starting point is always the re-imagination of the existent. It is where modernity and heritage meet. We believe in creativity hubs as multiple cultural city centers. With all our actions, we create the environment to support the pursuit of fulfillment and meaning for all our citizens. We trust our citizens and provide “help for self-help“. Our mission is to become the glocal leader of Scandinavian city innovation. Our mission is to set a positive example for the world. We’re different. We give place to non-place, and (re-)discover what makes us human in the urban landscape.“ It has been crafted to support the municipality of Gothenburg in the year 2035, in order to help the organization becoming the Scandinavian center of innovative city planning.

6. Implications for professions: When community hubs become the center of our local communities, driven by the newly introduced housing program, especially the need for creative and humanitarian jobs will increase. Professions such as designers, architects, engineers, environmentalists, landscape architects, entrepreneurs, neo-social workers, multiplicity agents, or micro-politicians will get more and more important. The innovative vision and mission of Gothenburg, presented in an open “The Future of Gothenburg“ city conference, will naturally attract various tribes of all creative and service-oriented professions,

including all social classes and different nations. Due to the high involvement and big responsibility of the municipality, with and through its citizens, the organization will be empowered. Citizens of all professions will be integrated into the structure of the organization, according to the motto “Co-design our city“. City officials will be the innovation leaders of the future, when citizens become officials. Sustainability and social innovation will be the main driving forces of “Being together. Naturally“ — Gothenburg 2035.

7. Methods and process: The concept of the so called “Double Diamond“, combining opening and closing phases, both in the process of understanding and in

the process of creating, functioned as the structural base of our group work. Following along the sometimes chaotic process, the

s) Sce iew na erv rio Int ( Bu “M s” ildi rch ake ice a ng o e h s C e C R Diamond“ hoconsist of “Double turned out to e t d l i a ces e e i r F ” “C V, EPmany double diamonds within the opening TE Field Exploration

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ma “M p ake C ho global trends. ice s”

and Sci-Fi Scenario Building, representing one of the converging methods in the “Understanding“ phase, helped us to imagine extreme future scenarios and explore radical ideas. Field-Testing and Guest-Visiting have been the most important diverging methods of the “Creating“ phase, both helping us to re-invent ourselves and create our final concept. Last but not least, we could synthesize our research, connect it with our concept and draw relationships with the help of the System, representing the most valuable converging method of the “Creating“ phase.

and closing phases. More or less strategic choices of all in all 15 methods, ranging from Service Design to Speculative Design, helped us to craft an alternative vision for Gothenburg in the year 2035, in where 3 Housing options, grounded in a strong community concept, provoking decentralized micro-city-centers, build the basis for a natural co-existence of people, technology, business and nature. The most important diverging methods of the “Understanding“ phase have been Field-Interviews and the STEEPV from Bespoke, both helping us

Scope Wheel

Sys tem

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Personas

Moodboard

Guest board

Prototyping

Causality loops

Vision & Mission

8. Figures Housing signals

New housing directions

Artists

Landscape designers

Eco-architects

Tech professionals

Builders

Architects

Environmentalists

Work signals

Gbg 2035 professions

Urban planners

Professionals/ semi-professionals in workshops

Engineers

River architects

Designers

City identity

Natural scientists

Neo-social workers

Urbanization

City planning Left wing

Decentralization

Waterfront expansion Inclusion vs Exclusion Technical solutions

Shortage

Expansion

Localization Integrating nature

Micro-politics Community hub Clouds for communities and hubs

Selfsustainability

Gentrification Competition vs Collaboration

Self-governed neighborhoods – micro-cities

I. “Be authentic”

Use existing space

Co-working & co-living

Co-ownership

Share economy

Natural balance preservation City planning council

Community ≠ Indivual needs

Disconnection from nature

Climate change

Sustainability

Consumption

Rising prices

Community feeling

Co-existence

Mobile homes living on the boat

III. “Be natural”

3D Print work

Work from home

Flexibility, mobility

Micro-climates Co-creation

Freelancers Rising feeling of insecurity

Silence hub Privacy as value

Temporality

Inequality Basic income

Self-production

Constant change Invasion of private life

Simulation of reality

II. “Be flexible”

Fig. 1: System Map

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Field Exploration

Sce na rio Bu “M ildi ake ng Ch oic es”

Desktop Research

Sys tem

ing isit t-v s e u es” oic ,G Ch ing t e s t e ea ld t “Cr Fie

Personas

Moodboard

Fig. 2: Double Diamond

Guest board

ma “M p ake Ch oic es”

Prototyping

Causality loops

Vision & Mission

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