Laboratories of the unexpected: can we make more creative, resilient and inclusive cities “just” by planning and designing less?
To facilitate a “Laboratory for the unexpected” approach, here are 2 tips:
Run a community event first
Whether you are a public or private organization, when planning to create a space dedicated to creative cultures in your city, there are huge benefits in running an event to gather the community you want to engage with, before the actual opening of your space. This would allow your project to perform an agile reality check (”is the vision of the project in line with local expectations?”) and to inform early stage decisions to be more efficient (”does my space need to be 500 or 1000 sqm?”).
Adopt an incremental approach: the 80/20 principle for space design When it comes to spatial design, you can temporary leave 20% of your square meters undesigned, only with basic furniture and without a pre-defined specific destination. This will allow the community to come up with real needs for it (a laboratory for professional photography, a special meeting room, a café, etc…). This will avoid overdesign and overbudgeting of your operation, while strengthening the bonds between your physical space and the community.