City Co-Labs: Re-Making Place Civic Hack

Makerversity’s City Co-Labs series explores how future cities will emerge through new, unexpected and radical collaborations across disciplines, from tech and architecture to design and activism. This series will look at local concerns to challenge wider issues cities face around sustainability, accessibility and social change.

Through this Civic Hack, we explore how we could re-imagine public space around and within Somerset House, to break the boundaries its current users may face in terms of interaction and inclusion. In the context of public consultations to pedestrianise the Strand-Aldwych area, exploring Somerset House’s public use mirrors wider issues around public city spaces within London and beyond.

How do we challenge who feels entitled to these spaces - and how can we reclaim them for everyone?

This intensive making weekend brings together designers, architects, activists and local residents to re-imagine shared spaces and challenge their current limitations.

Come to our opening session where designers, architects and activists will explore different approaches around inclusivity and place-making in public city spaces from activism and inclusion to challenging architecture’s social role.

Drop in during the weekend to contribute your viewpoints, and discover hack participants’ works-in-progress within Somerset House’s spaces, repurposed as sites for experimentation and collaboration.