Keynote: The Fab City

Abstract

Today’s economic, environmental, social and political crises are the result of a model that was shaped during the last 100 years. This model is based on oil processing (energy and raw materials), chain production and the creation of a global economic system. Our oil-based economy and serialised production model has allowed humanity to increase the capacity of manufacturing resources to solve its basic needs whilst investing less time and human resources and, furthermore, to generate new materials and processes for the consumption of goods and services by the masses. The spatial separation of production from consumption, and the acceleration of manufacturing processes (mainly in food), have allowed humans more time to expend in other activities. The rise of an entertainment-based society is the result: once your basic needs are met, you can use the most recent technological discoveries to consume and produce spectacle and leisure. We need to change our relationship with technology in order to achieve a more sustainable, productive and knowledge-based way of living, bringing production closer to consumption and managing our lives with more efficient and demand-based dynamics.