...experimentcity promotes a critical, cultural approach to urban community develpment, but perhaps more importantly, it highlights practical strategies for supporting sustainability experiments that are taking hold in dynamic, post-wall Berlin.  experimentcity’s communications platform emphasizes self-organized re-uses of vacant land and buildings, such as ecological housing, alternative cultural centers and community gardening projects. By bringing attention to synergies found in combining idle spaces with the resourcefullness of civil society, experimentcity assists Berlin residents in pioneering new production and management methods for social space.  Now such bottom-up efforts are winning support for their ‘informal planning’ methods, and innovative land-recycling groups are being recognized as partners in the City's development.

...experimentcity is a call to action, learning from existing projects and helping to mobilize new generations of initiatives interested in sustainably reusing and redeveloping city spaces: small laboratories involved in action-research focused on progressive urban alternatives.  ...experimentcity has been able to identify, review and network hundreds of such projects and directly assist a good number of them in recent years.

...experimentcity works with an on-going inner-city rennaissance: a rediscovery of quality of life in urban settings. In this sense, sustainability prioritizes qualitative developments over quantitative, such as increased local identity and security, reduced air, water and noise pollution, less time spent commuting and opportunities for self-expression through shaping local living conditions. A communicative and cultural approach is emphasized rather than a technological one, and the decision-making process itself is given a high value.

As an open source platform between theory and practice, experimentcity supports a culture of sustainable urban development by working with, studying, comparing, networking and publicizing practical projects. To this end two internet homepages have been created and maintained, as forums for communicating and finding support for specific projects. Experimentcity also organizes events such as the yearly EXPERIMENTDAYS to bring projects together, generate publicity, as well as mobilize people and resources. In 2009 experimentcity is being publicized by the European Commission as a best practice in the “Year of Innovation and Creativity”._______________________            

 

________________________www.WOHNPORTAL-berlin.de                          

 __________________________www.EXPERIMENTDAYS.de