Since 10 years SUPERMARKT is a lively hub of the independent scene in Berlin. In March the doors had to be locked due to a pandemic. Co-founder Ela Kagel takes stock of the past few months and demands that the battle for 'physical space' must be fought right now.
Vienna provides inclusive participatory tools. New neighborhood development processes reach out to the people. Vienna has achieved the status of being a forerunner for proactive participation. Wencke Hertzsch, advisor on strategic participation of the City of Vienna to the Executive Group for Construction and Technology, comments on the current situation.
Are societies with a high level of digital learning and digital working expertises good equipped for coping with global pandemies? Mina Di Marino comments on how libraries are important interfaces when societies are experimenting with new steps out into post-normalities. Will these intermediate spaces be the new working spaces in urban context?
Consider Digbeth a post-industrial area close to the centre of Birmingham, a place where people have found home then moved on over the years, a location with a century old history of artisan crafts and trades. Steve Harding looks at strategies of designers and makers to cope economically with the lockdown.
In Berlin new wider bike lanes are literally popping up or old ones are painted green to make them more visible and safe. But did it first need a crisis and such an exceptional situation as Covid-19 and the lockdown?
