Future Now
The IFTF Blog
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Maker Cities in Transition
On Wednesday of last week, IFTF’s Maker Cities team partnered with the Global Lives Project to host a panel and knowledge sharing event, Maker Cities in Transition. Gathering together in San Francisco’s Folsom Street Foundry, we began with a happy hour; with over 150 attendees, the evening began with a meet and greet over music provided by DJ Popstack.
David Harris of IFTF and Global Lives Project kicked off the evening formally by presenting the work of the Global Lives Project and explaining where it intersects with the maker movement.
Jason Tester then introduced our panelists; Iso Rabins (@forageSF), Forager and Founder of ForageSF, a handmade community; Bilal Ghalib (@bilalghalib), Facilitator of hackerspaces in the Middle East through @gemsinitiative; Julie Lein (@j2ulie), President and Co-Founder of Tumml (@Tumml), an accelerator for urban innovation; James Hanusa (@James_Hanusa), CEO of Urban Innovation Exchange (@UIXGlobal), building bridges between innovation centers in the US and around the world; and finally Shannon Spanhake (@channelshannon), Deputy Innovation Officer, City and County of San Francisco (@SFMOCI) and 2013 IFTF Future for Good Fellow.
Over the course of an hour, our panelists discussed the future of cities, and the role that makers will play- the discussion touched on the roles of policy and government, how makers can create new initiatives, and how maker-led projects can gather community support to have the broadest positive impact.
After the panel, we returned to a meet and greet format; the function of the event was largely to bring together lots of fascinating individuals contributing in or researching the impact that makers have on cities.
Toward the end of the evening, attendees took the ideas they’d developed and considered throughout the evening, and contributed them to our global discussion on the intersection of the maker movement and cities (MakerCities.net). Everyone who filled out a postcard was eligible to win a maker cities T-shirt!
