References

NYC Resistor is a hacker collective with a shared space located in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn. They meet regularly to share knowledge, hack on projects together, and build community.

They have a calendar thing like underline.center. A member-run space supported by monthly dues.

A space for sharing, creation, collaboration, research, development, mentoring, and learning.

People can visit, work, and use equipment free; donations are encouraged.

Flexible creative clubhouse with diverse programming.

Art and technology collaboration space with a community-driven approach and flexible infrastructure.

Hyperlocal community focus with self-run courses and a neighborhood-as-campus approach.

see fractal application/syllabus, syllabus, and fractal operations and vibes.

An artist-run space that fosters creative practice at the intersection of art, design, learning, publishing, printing, activism, and community building.

Lab based in Bangalore, India focused on foundational questions in AI and beyond.

A community of lifelong learners who love exploring for its own sake, getting nerdsniped by hard problems, and sharing ideas freely.

Inspired by Homebrew Computer Club and Institute for Advanced Study.

A space leaving traditional labs behind to move faster, partnering with like-minded communities, companies, and grants.

Focus areas include biotech, lab automation, and core ML research.

A place for creative technologists to experiment, exhibit, and expand their practice.

collaborative space for individuals and organizations focused on urban planning, the environment, and socio-cultural development.

VC fund disguised as a hackerhouse.

A communal living room in San Francisco.

A pottery studio and community art space.

experiences through pottery, ceramic, and art.

physical space for an independent visual publication

an alternative print studio were they collaborate with different collectives/individuals.

obvious office as a cowork/event space

non-profit organisation working towards creating a network of proactive, dedicated, and capable individuals working towards a better future for the neighborhood

Hack Club is the world’s largest nonprofit movement of teenagers making cool projects.

Nonprofit center for inspiration, education, and community.

Mostly focused on fonts and type.

not-for-profit public institution for research-based engagement targeted at young adults working at the intersection of the human, natural, and social sciences, engineering, art, and design.

their events are super intresting, extremely resourceful and capable team/leadership

An urban living lab for regenerative systems, communities, and cultures.

They also now have a physical space

Multi-city hackerhouses; runs cohorts sometimes.

Socratica is a live, IRL co-working session hosted every Sunday in Waterloo bringing together people who want to make stuff

I like how they've documented their sessions

Jelly is a semi-weekly work-together

They don't run this anymore but the idea is still interesting

The settlement movement created neighbourhood houses where reformers lived and worked alongside poorer and immigrant communities. These spaces brought together education, childcare, arts, recreation, practical support, social research and campaigns for institutional reform.

We can adopt its long-term neighbourhood presence, relationship-building and combination of social, creative and civic work. Def. avoid paternalism, speaking for communities, treating people as beneficiaries, assuming capability must come from outside, or becoming a service-delivery institution disconnected from shared power.

Tennessee, 1932-present. A legendary incubator for the US Civil Rights Movement that trained and convened organizers including Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. Highlander practiced popular education: instead of telling people what to do, it brought people together in a circle and trusted that communities already had the knowledge to solve their own problems. Gathering, singing, eating, and social life were treated as prerequisites for civic action.

Adopt its circle-based facilitation, peer learning, local leadership, culture-making, shared meals, songs, and informal social time as serious civic infrastructure. Avoid becoming an outside expert/savior space that prescribes answers or extracts stories from communities. Learning from Highlander’s vulnerability to political/legal attacks, we need to keep governance, finances, permits, safety, and documentation boringly solid.

Taiwan, 2012-present. A decentralized civic tech community whose motto is "fork the government." g0v looks at government systems that are opaque or bureaucratic and redesigns them to be legible and participatory. It did not replace the government; it built better open-source dashboards for things like national budgets and pandemic responses, which the actual government eventually adopted.

What we can learn: fork broken public interfaces instead of only criticizing them; make opaque systems inspectable with open data, useful dashboards, clear language, and participatory workflows; prototype better government in public until institutions have something concrete to adopt. What to avoid: becoming an unelected parallel bureaucracy, optimizing for hackathon spectacle over maintenance, assuming code alone fixes trust or power, or building tools without affected communities and civil servants in the loop.

Began in Totnes, UK, in 2006. A grassroots network aimed at increasing self-sufficiency to reduce the potential effects of peak oil, climate destruction, and economic instability. It focuses heavily on rebuilding local ecological and economic resilience through community-led projects.

Adopt its hyperlocal resilience lens: community-led projects around food, energy, repair, local livelihoods, skills, local economies, climate readiness, asset-mapping, and small visible wins that help people feel “we can build and care for this place.” Avoid doom/apocalypse framing, romanticizing total self-sufficiency, becoming a lifestyle enclave for already-resourced people, ignoring public institutions, or over-planning without producing practical results people can see and join.

A guild for moonshot projects.

Community workshop model with diverse skill areas and peer learning culture.

Has proper fabrication lab etc.

Creative Technology & Cultural Strategy for the Arts

Manhattan’s first board game cafe with a vast board game library, WiFi, coffee, and a seasonal menu of sandwiches and light eats.

Brooklyn cafe and creative venue serving specialty coffee and Chinese pastries, hosting exhibitions, pop-up bake sales, workshops, screenings, and more.

Like their local creator programming, and a strong feeling of home through food, objects, and story.

Encouraging creative community engagement through Boardgames, textile arts (weaving, crochet & visible mending)

An artist-run project supporting artists engaging with the internet, software, and pop culture, organized by Maya Man.

offline club/service encouraging play/flow/movements

People who meet to explore patterns in craft, technology, music, performing arts, and more.

casual event for puzzle lovers on the second Tuesday of every month.

jigsaw puzzle community

grassroots group of volunteers who came together out of a belief that our community is safer when we take care of each other.

Community calendar and event discovery platform for local engagement.

non-profit experiential learning space designed specifically for children and teenagers aged 2 to 17, built across 5 floors in Mumbai

educates the public about the art, history, and technology of film, television, and digital media

Appropriate technology focused, open-source documentation, local and sustainable problem-solving methodologies.

Also see LOW←TECH MAGAZINE and appropedia

The Sassy Side of Science.

nonprofit organisation based in BLR. They try combining STEM concepts with art and creative projects and make learning accessible to all ages.

They also have a coworking thing like many other community spaces

community to grow open design as a strategy to achieve a society that moves towards a degrow in its production and consumption system.

DIY ethos, collaborative design education, and downloadable open-source projects.

Biopunk Lab is a hands-on community biology space where curious minds come to build, break, and discover. We believe that access to biotechnology shouldn't be gated by institutions

The world’s first community biology lab - a place where people of all backgrounds can learn, create, and grow with the life sciences.

interdisciplinary research lab working to invent the future of X

Penland School of Craft is a national craft education center dedicated to the creative life.

nonprofit research lab and communal computing space founded by Bret Victor. It reimagines the computer not as a personal, solitary device with a screen, but as a shared room

Independent industrial research lab that explores the future of computing and digital "tools for thought."

Interdisciplinary lab and initiative dedicated to making STEM education joyful, experiential, and highly engaging for students and teachers